Trump Card: Duce of Hearts
by Sheamaru
Summary: Shino and Shikamaru have been together for some time now, so when they do finally decide to sleep with one another, why does everything have to go wrong? [Shino x Shikamaru][Yaoi]
1. Chapter 1

"Oi! Stop pushing on it so hard!"

"Don't complain."

"Then stop being so troubles-ow!"

"It isn't my fault you don't do this often enough, the muscles are tight."

"And what am I suppose to do about it?"

"Relax, aren't you good at that?"

"Haha, very-ow!"

A grunt of frustration and effort was the only response that time. Shikamaru inhaled a breath and let it out in a rush before attempting to suffocate himself in his pillow once again. His entire body felt warm, despite the air blowing the curtains to his left. Turning his head, he watched them moving with slightly squinted eyes. Without warning his eyes closed tightly and his head shot up as his form curved up with an outcry of minor pain and mostly pleasure.

"Shino!" he found himself softly calling as the sound died out. More pressure was the response as the other leaned over his back a little more. The cry had left Shikamaru a little winded, his air being taken in by gentle pants now.

"Almost," he murmured, pressing his lips against the other's warm cheek. The cat eyed male only made a faint groan in reply while Shino pulled away to press at him again. Shikamaru silently prayed that he wasn't lying and this bodily torture was almost over.

After a few more minutes of pressing, groaning, and occasional sounds of effort from Shino, Shikamaru cried out one more time, wrapping his fingers even more in the soft material of his sheets. The bug-user's weight swayed back a little more on the legs of the boy under him, straddling along those slender hips. He moved his hands back up the colored skin, raking his short nails along the flesh gently, leaving tingling lines that earned him a shudder from Shikamaru. He moved them over the Chuunin's shoulders to the plush pillows on either side of his head. Leaning forward, he brushed aside the usually secured brunette locks from the other's neck with his nose. His soft lips pressed against the hot skin, traveling down to move along his left shoulder, tasting the smooth, unique, flavor lovingly.

Shikamaru tried to collect his breathing once more, his body giving minor tremors sporadically. The feel of those lips moving along his back tickling him soothingly, coaxing his body to relax again was inviting. He smiled a little, laughing gently through his pants, "You're so troublesome."

The Aburame's lips continued to travel over the skin, working his way down the form below him. Gently his tongue would bypass his lips to trail along the warm flesh, moving along the center of his back. He could feel Shikamaru's body quiver and heave gently under his mouth. He heard the shadow manipulator gasp softly as his warm tongue brushed over a spot on the dip of his lower back. Another shudder ran down the muscles under his mouth, making him feel even more pleased with himself. He pulled back after reaching the waist-line of the other's pants, moving back up to hover over the body spread under him, lowering his mouth near one of those pierced ears, "You should get massages more often, if you're that tense I don't see how anyone could think of you as relaxed."

The tension in his hands left as he felt Shino move to hover back over him. He moved to push himself onto his back. Shino shifted his legs to allow it but not to unseat himself from where he was. He laced his fingers with the Nara's, holding them lightly into the feathered pillows on either side of his head. His usually glasses-hid brown eyes looked down into the strategist's before moving down to press his lips against the other's. Shikamaru's mouth pressed back, soft lips parting as the elder requested entrance for his tongue. Shino's head tilted slightly to press more into Shikamaru's mouth, fingers tightening lovingly over the other's.

"A massage a day wouldn't get me as relaxed as I am now," Shikamaru replied after the kiss was broken for breath. He hadn't even realized how tense he had been until he felt how relaxed he was now. Though how much of it had to do with the massage and how much had to do with it being given by Shino's hands, he was pretty sure which gave the greater effect. The news of this seemed only to make Shino more proud, a smirk or smile – Shikamaru couldn't tell which – twitched at his lips.

"Always have a trump card," he said coolly, moving down to kiss the other again. Despite his attempt to hide it, the other's keen eyes caught the smirk on those eluding lips. Once again the kiss was deepened, but the phrase rolled over in the younger Chuunin's mind. His tactical brain went to work in dividing its possible meanings, but it didn't have much time before it received its answer. Even in that time, however, it managed to come up with this as a possible result.

Shino's lips moved back along his jaw line, slowly working down. He brushed his tongue along his ear, moistening it before exhaling a breath that instantly chilled the skin. Shikamaru's form shuddered softly but Shino was already descending along his neck. Licking and kissing the skin with a lover's feel, finding that pulse to moisten and work at in only a few moments. One didn't have to have done this a million times to know how to get someone to enjoy it. In fact, he was feeling out for areas that really made the other go wild, exploring his body more fully than he had ever permitted himself before. He trailed away from the reddened skin in his continued travels along Shikamaru's now warming body, leaving the pulse moving faster than it had been when he'd first arrived.

"Shino…I have a mission in two hours…" Shikamaru told him, though his voice seemed quiet. His face had flushed with a slight heat upon realizing what the other was implying with his actions. Was that a weird thing to say? Did sex usually take that long? He had no shame in admitting to himself that this was the first time he'd have gone this far, with anyone, and he was not only positive he would be sore, but he was sure he was relatively clueless on some things.

"That's plenty of time," Shino confirmed, brushing his tongue over the other's sternum, right along the top of his collarbone. He felt Shikamaru's hands tense around his own as he did so, another pleasing reaction.

"I'm going to be sore," he grumbled, though his voice was the slightest bit strained because of the sudden brush of Shino's tongue over his skin. Shino's actions didn't indicate that he had even heard the other. He had, however, as he pressed light kisses against the skin before him. Shikamaru would be sore considering this was his first time, as he had told Shino during earlier parts of the relationship. Not that it was a problem, as he would be learning from this as well, but perhaps that would make it even more annoying for the other. After all, this sort of soreness would certainly prove to be a problem on a mission.

He moved to pull back before a slight cunningness hit his eyes and features, he lifted his eyes to the other suspiciously, "What's the mission?"

Shikamaru's expression took something resembling an irritated confusion. He always appreciated knowing that Shino was intelligent, and could play the tactical games he liked with him. However, it could be troublesome in situations like this, when he figured out the holes in Shikamaru's words. He made a soft 'tch' sound at being figured out, "Picking up some scrolls and herbs for the Fifth from another village."

"You're nervous," Shino picked up almost as soon as Shikamaru had finished answering, the boy having looked off to the side. His eyes turned back to the other, though only looking out of the corner. He wasn't an incredibly prideful person, except maybe when fighting girls, so he felt no need to hide his faintly blushing cheeks which only received more color. He turned his eyes back to the clouds he could see through his curtains outside his window.

"You're troublesome," was his only response, which was enough of an indication to Shino that he had been right. He moved to brush his lips against the other's ear, licking the cartilage softly. Shikamaru's hands tightened before relaxing again, tilting his head hesitantly against the feeling.

"Trust me," he whispered softly. Shikamaru swallowed a little both timid and annoyed before nodding, only slightly. If he couldn't trust Shino, his boyfriend of a year and a half, with his body then he really was more of a coward than he had thought. Shino gave his hands a light squeeze before moving back down to the trail he had licked along the boy's collarbone. He brushed his lips over the bone hidden beneath the skin, trailing his tongue in a pressing manner over the flesh. He nibbled on the skin just below it, paying attention to the reactions the use of his teeth earned. He didn't figure Shikamaru to be much of a masochist – and he wasn't much of a sadist. The other did gasp faintly as his skin was gently rolled between Shino's teeth.

He released the skin and moved to continue down the span of the other's chest. He was clearly not in a rush as he used an unpredictable pattern to brush his tongue over the warm skin against his mouth. He played with the skill of an expert against the darkened skin of Shikamaru's nipple. The submissive gasped and arched off the bed slightly. His fingers once more tightened against the bug user's. Shino continued to hold them even as he descended, simply drawing them down with him. The reactions he earned were sexually rewarding for him as well.

He left the hardened skin behind for its twin, the exposure to the cooler air compared to Shino's hot mouth making the other's form quiver in pleasure. Goosebumps spread across his skin with the sensation, though he only felt more heat coming to his body as Shino continued. His stomach clenched as a wave of arousal was sent lower in his body. A faint and unfighted groan caused the same reaction in Shino's body as well. He arched once again as the cooler air tickled the moistened nub, signaling Shino's continual down movement had started again. Shikamaru felt an arousing sense of vulnerability in laying shirtless, his hands held, under Shino and the heat of his mouth.

The brown eyed dominant licked his lips to leave behind soft, wet imprints of his lips along the skin. He aimlessly decorated the smooth flat stomach under him with such light kisses. He experimentally dipped his tongue into the other's navel. The reaction was more than he had expected as the other arched into it, as though a surprise person had attacked him from behind with even more of the pleasing sensation. Shino had to draw back quickly to avoid colliding with the other's stomach. Shikamaru's hands clenched almost painfully as his body practically spasmed at such a light thing.

A faint smirk grew on Shino's lips before moving back down to trail a devious ring around the hole before once more delving in. Shikamaru fought to arch even more with a more audible moan of pleasure. One of his hands was released as Shino's hand moved back to support him into his arch. His fingertips stroked along the other's vertebra while his tongue played with the sensitive area. Shikamaru's now free hand moved to twist in his partner's brown hair, though clearly not to hurt.

He had never felt something so erotic in his life. Completely unaware of how sensitive his navel was, he had been just as surprised at the reaction as Shino had. He could feel heat in his cheeks spreading across his entire body as Shino continued; feeling the hand supporting him into the arch, fingertips tickling the skin with their brushes. Although it tickled, it was far from in a way that made him want to laugh. It sent pleasurable sensations along his nerves that were more obviously reflected in the tightening of his pants. He fought a losing battle in an attempt to keep control of his breathing. His brain, unfortunately, went straight to the thought of how sore he was going to be in too short of a time. Though it did help him to remember something else of importance.

Shino moved away from his navel only to kiss back up the arched stomach, Shikamaru exhaling a breath he seemed to be holding, eyes relaxing a little more, though his breathing pattern had officially been ruined. Despite that, he attempted to bring his thought to Shino's attention, "You're not…getting anywhere with this unless…you have lubricant."

Assured only for a moment that Shikamaru wasn't once again attempting to con his way out of this, Shino sat back and moved to get off the bed. No, unlike some people, he didn't make it a point to keep a container of it in his bedside table. That seemed a tad implying where he didn't want to imply. However, as he and Shikamaru had become more serious, he did keep a bottle in his bathroom, just in case of this exact situation. If it was better to be prepared in battle, why not carry similar thoughts into a relationship? Though in this case, it was far from being prepared for the worst. He was glad Shikamaru had mentioned it now compared to later where it only would have been increasingly awkward.

He retrieved the clear bottle from one of the less used drawers he had tossed it in and turned back for the room. Some small, paranoid part of him that lingered from the ridicule in his childhood was swelling with dread at the thought that Shikamaru may have left. That the mention was purely to get him to leave the room so he could run. But the potential for heart break was immediately ceased as he saw the other still laying shirtless on his bed amidst the twisted sheets and blanket. He felt the tension ease from his body as he crossed the room, raising the bottle for the other to see before putting it on the pillow, out of the way.

He didn't move back on the other immediately, instead he sat on the side of the bed and leaned over to press his lips against his. The relief rushing forward to cloud his mind as the other kissed back. It wouldn't have been the first time someone had run from the 'gross bug freak' in his life. Shikamaru, though so much different than the others, could not completely erase that fear in his mind that he would be rejected. He pulled back only to press his lips chastely once more.

"You okay?" he questioned, his brows furrowing in minor concern. Shino nodded, trailing his hand down over the other's chest, causing him to shudder against the touch. The return of that lustful feeling prompted him to move between the other's legs, spreading them as he lined his thigh against the other's groin. Shikamaru shuddered at the pressure, his fingers tensing but not tightening on the sheets, not yet. Shino untied the string of Shikamaru's pants with his teeth before moving to the zipper, though only undoing it partly. He pushed the pants and whatever lie under them down along his hips, though no lower.

He kissed and nibbled a line from the other's navel down along his pelvis, exhaling warm air over the skin before moving back up to his hips. The younger writhed slightly as lower regions on his body began receiving more and more attention. His head tilted back as his eyes once more tightly closed, breathing becoming increasingly strained. He lifted his hips up into that hot mouth, but they were all too quickly restrained back to the bed, making his back arch as Shino's touches seemed to become lighter and lighter, "Too…troublesome…"

Shino tenderly bit at the warm flesh near the other's hip, running his tongue over the gentle dip that had become exposed. A strained moan was audible as a reaction, which was definitely pleasing to hear as he continued working along that body. Troublesome as he may have been, he knew that was only said because Shikamaru had to fight against being held down, that his body was being put through so much that he couldn't figure out how to properly react to. This type of troublesome, Shino had no problem dealing with. He moved back down along the skin of the other's pelvis, pressing his lips with a bit more force as he gradually worked down. He felt Shikamaru's hands move up to the sleeves of his shirt, fisting on the material slightly, a motion which triggered a slight tension through Shino's body.

"Take it off…" Shikamaru panted softly; tugging on the shirt a little to show that he was coherent enough still to know what he meant. Shino swallowed faintly, his eyes mellowing a little as he lifted from where he had been, leaning forward over the other a little more to look at his face. When he realized the other had moved, Shikamaru relaxed against the bed a little more, opening his eyes partially to look to the other's face, meeting those dark brown eyes.

"I don't like taking my shirt off, you know that," he said, fighting the sternness he wanted to put in his voice. It wasn't as though this couldn't be done without him removing his shirt, it wasn't essential, he had nothing against taking his pants off. But…his shirt? It was never something easy to do, not with all those scars on his skin, he was ashamed of them, he had no problem expressing that, this time would be no different.

"Stop being so troublesome and take it off," Shikamaru said, not arguing with the use of a more stern and serious voice despite the fact his face hardly fit the tone. He moved his hands down over the other's back before pulling it up to run his hands under it, over the skin softly. He felt the raised and uneven scars that bubbled out against his fingers. The rejection of those queens by Shino's colony so long ago had left marks that would never leave, Shikamaru knew that, but if he had cared then he wouldn't have let it progress this far. You don't lead on a person who's body repulsed you, or at least he didn't. Shino gasped slightly as he felt the other's hands over his skin, the warmth running over those scars and along his flesh. He fought to keep from snapping at the other, not wanting to ruin this completely…not over something like this.

Shikamaru's hands, mean while, explored over the canvass, his fingertips brushing over the rough edges and along the almost tunnel like marks. He had seen them probably before it was owed to him, but he far from cared, not in this case, it was…ridiculous. He never tried to force Shino to understand that they were 'just scars', he never tried to make him believe that they meant nothing, but to him they were just marks. They covered his body, they weren't pretty, they would never be pretty or handsome or incredibly pleasing to look at, but they were a part of Shino's body that couldn't be helped. And even if it could have been, Shikamaru would have only want them gone if it would have made Shino's life better for him, having already known for some time how the other felt about them.

One of Shino's hands moved up to catch Shikamaru's under his shirt, pausing his actions on both hands. His green-gray eyes flicking back up to those brown ones in a mix of curiosity and mild irritation. He clearly didn't care about what lie under the shirt, or did in a sense that didn't repulse him. Aburame Shino fought back a million things that could happen and a million paranoid thoughts of why Shikamaru would be so willing to have him remove his shirt, "Anyone else would just let me leave the shirt on."

"I'm hoping not just 'anyone' else would be in your bed," the reply was shot back almost as instantly as Shino had finished. He had picked up on the shameful, though silent, implications that only made his reply come that much faster, "if someone can't do what I'm doing now and ask this of you too, then they shouldn't be with you like this…or at _all, _anyway."

As Shikamaru disliked it when Shino figured out his loopholes, like wise Shino found himself a little displaced when Shikamaru used his logic for these kinds of matters. He was caught between telling Shikamaru to leave it or trying to guilt him into stopping the stupid argument. However, he simply let his hand drop from Shikamaru's. Rather than hesitating, Shikamaru moved his hands to push the other back, tightening his abdomen to pull himself up as well. Shino sat back a little more on the other's legs, keeping his eyes on his face. Light but warm hands traveled up over the scarred flesh, pushing the dark material up to expose it more and more to the bedroom's air.

He closed his eyes as it was pulled over his head, lifting his arms despite the tightening feeling along his entire body in a way that was far from a pleasant one. It was embarrassment and shame, the constant fear of rejection or shock at what was there to see. They were discolored and deformed, his natural skin color was smudged and blended by the scars he fought so hard to hide. It wasn't as though Shikamaru hadn't seen them before, but he found little comfort in even that. A feeling like this, that he lived with his whole life, was far from easily pushed aside. Even by the most understanding of people, it wasn't going to just disappear.

Though Shikamaru had already long since figured that out at the way the other tensed when he even slightly tugged on one of his collars. Noticing the other's eyes were closed didn't hinder him, dropping the shirt off to the side of the bed he leaned forward to kiss just below Shino's collarbone. The other flinched a little, as though he were expecting to be hit, what a troublesome thing to think. A hand raised up to keep him from flinching back as Shikamaru's lips moved warmly against the scarred skin again. He copied the same descent along Shino's body as Shino had his. He didn't move or attempt to jerk back expect for once more when the warm, moist feel of Shikamaru's tongue brushed his skin. Even Shino wasn't entirely sure why. Had he enjoyed the surprise sensation or was he expecting the cruelty of being bitten? His hands stayed at his sides, fisting gently, almost nervously, in the material of the bedspread.

Unwilling to remove the other from straddling his lap, Shikamaru only went down so far before lifting his head up again. Feathering lips brushed over his collarbone, he could feel the other swallowing back his nervousness as he got to the base of his neck. Shino's head tilted against the other's bare shoulder softly, partially opening his eyes. He had never expected to be in a relationship beyond friend ship and Shikamaru had been his chance. Out of this closeness, he hadn't anticipated to receive this care…or was it lack of care?…about his body.

"Thank you," he replied though it seemed more to himself or someone who wasn't there at all he moved to press his mouth to the other's warm shoulder. It wasn't as though he hadn't tried, it had been Shikamaru who had pushed. Doing this because he wanted it, or else he wouldn't have gone through the _troublesome _task of arguing it.

"You get it now?" he asked, breathing warmly over the scars on his neck. The only answer he received was a press of lips against his own followed by an invading tongue. Before he realized it, he was once again on his back with the other's body hovering above his. Hands moved down to his hips again, holding him to the bed once more. Now hands roamed over his own body, running along the tunneled, rough skin, exploring over the muscles and the few bones that managed to show. His body was far from extremely well toned, but being a Chuunin did apply it's own strain on the physical aspects.

He was tugged down against the body below his. Hesitantly, he lined his form against Shikamaru's. He heard the other sharply and deeply inhale. He tensed, brows furrowing, and moved to pull back once more, only to be lured back with the deepening of the kiss and secure, though not painful, hold downward. His leg pressed more up between the other's, feeling Shikamaru attempt to back his hips against his. He only managed to further work himself against the leg, moaning into Shino's mouth.

A lack of air, kiss broken, Shino moved back to work his way down that body once again. Unlike before, his kisses and nibbles were more fevered. His self control not lost, though having dwindled just a little as he moved down. Shikamaru's hands trailed along his skin, sensations akin to pleasure coursing through his system. He once more dipped his tongue into his navel, practically feeling the suddenly heightened arousal against his leg. He trailed his tongue down in a warm line, biting and brushing along the flesh again softly. The boy under him fought with the hands restraining his hips, back arching in a gentle curve.

Soft fingers lowered down the clothes that remained on the other's lower body. Shifting his leg to remove them completely, the submissive's legs shifting scarcely so they could be shed. Realizing himself fully unclothed, a blush rose to the strategist's cheeks that he struggled to ignore. However, Shino noticed it and moved his hands down along his legs, unsurprisingly yet unusually smooth, leaning down to tenderly tease the area. Not quite touching the undoubting heated groin, but instead intimately playing with the surrounding flesh.

"You're so troublesome!" he scolded as he arched even more from the bed. A line was delicately rolled down his inner thigh as Shino's hands slipped around o squeeze at the back of the other one with the pads of his fingers, pushing them against the sensitive muscle. Shikamaru's fingers tensed at his sides where they had fallen after Shino got beyond his reach. He nearly threw his head back as his body gave a decent spasm of pleasure, his breathing shaken.

The sounds he earned caused Shino's stomach to tighten as well as his own erection to throb, though not painfully. He continued massaging the back of his thigh, switching hands only as his mouth moved, working in reverse, back up towards the other's member. Shikamaru's body took up the consistent shuddering as he gripped the sheets, moaning when a hot breath spread across his groin.

"If you don't…stop being s-ungh…t-troublesome…I'm going…t-to…throw the bottle…at you," he cursed without cursing. He bit back the urge to smirk as he moved back up to take the bottle from the pillow beside the Nara's head. Pausing to press his lips over the other's chastely.

"You can't throw it at me if you can't reach it," he coolly responded. Shikamaru managed to open his unfocused eyes enough to glare slightly in response, though it was hard to take it too seriously through his pants and flushed cheeks.

He moved back to open the bottle and coat his fingers lightly in the lubricant. Immediately, he realized he had bought the kind with the 'warming sensation on contact', lowering his hand own to the entrance to coat it lightly. The other, without needing to be warned, remained relaxed, that was simply common sense for the both of them. Slowly, he pressed a digit inside, earning a gasp and a shudder in response. The other tensed for a moment before catching himself and forcing his body to relax again. The feeling surpassed weird, but not in an unpleasant way. He could feel the slight tingle of the warming sensation along his skin, only furthering the throb of his erection.

Shino didn't hesitate to enter the second, widening the hole further. Shikamaru's body jerked, hands tugging on the sheets in a manner that was nearly anxious. A hand moved to his hip to hold him while the muscle was sensually worked to relaxation despite the tautness of the rest of his body. His already spaced breathing became even more pant-like as a strained groan emitted from his throat, unable to get fully through his clenched jaw and closed mouth, clearly attempting to hid the extent of the 'damage'.

The pads of Shino's fingers pressed and stretched at the inner walls of sensitive muscle, spreading the remaining oil as he did so, determined to keep the inevitable soreness to a minimum. Knowing all too well the damage a careless lover could cause. He removed both digits, leaning forward to support himself above the other, the press of his lips against Shikamaru's alerted the other to movement. His hands shook slightly with the pleasure induced tension as he ran them along the insect-user's sides. They roamed back up to tease lightly at the other's skin, tickling him to a gentle shudder. Seemingly pleased with this, he ran them back down to the still secure waist-line of Shino's pants, positions shifted minimally so Shikamaru could remove them, officially dubbing the task troublesome.

Aburame Shino's body gave another slight shiver at the exposure of cooler air against his lower regions. A warm, calloused but gentle hand brushing over the already hot skin hardly helped him to keep control. He broke the kiss with a soft gasp, tipping his head down against the other's shoulder as he slowly moved his hand back up over his stomach and gradually higher, lowering himself back to the bed.

He kept himself supported above the other with his arms locked on either side of the lithe chest below him. He lifted his head partially to glance to Shikamaru's face, surprised when hazed eyes were already there to meet his. The look was nothing short of incredibly need now, but in being allowed to see that look so clearly, without hesitation, fear, or worry…gave a great show of trust as well. The question at his lips was erased and replaced with the pull to kiss the other's soft lips. A pull that he gave into without question.

It lingered for a few moments before he swayed his hips forward, the other's body didn't tense as he pressed forward, finding an almost guided angle as he did so. The body below his stilled, a soft cry of pain and surprise at the unusual feeling. Fingers twitched on the covers, fighting with the rest of his body to keep from tightening around the intrusion. Time given for him to adjust still wasn't enough for him to place it in a like or hated category. As Shino backed away, he wasn't sure what to make of the empty feeling left over. Did he want to moan in urging for it to be replaced or cry out for Shino to stop?

Thankfully, he was sure, Shino didn't wait to press into him again. He silenced the sound at a squeak as the deepness of the angle made his back arch as though a switch had been hit. The awkwardness of the first push was well eclipsed by the zinging sensation of the second. He turned his head to gasp, breaking the kiss rather unceremoniously, though Shino didn't seem bothered. He lowered his head down to kiss and bite affectionately along his neck. At the third enter, Shino began to find a pattern for thrusting into the other that rapidly increased in both pressure and speed.

Shikamaru's hands sought out something more solid to grasp onto, head swirling as his body was further and further pushed by his boyfriend. He moved them above his head to grip at the top of the headboard, wishing he had slightly longer nails to grip with, amongst other things. He barely felt it when his legs were shifted, the only thing that really registered was the sudden intense, full feeling that resulted from the shift in position. He moaned, arching and nearly balancing completely on his head as it tilted back. The form above his own shivered at the brush of heated contact as well as the tight motion against his member. He pulled away from Shikamaru's neck to bite back a soft groan, closing his eyes tightly. The other attempted to relax back against the bed, though the deep thrusts seemed to make this impossible completely.

He continued to angle himself for deeper thrusts while attempting to keep control for any unenjoyable sounds to be heard. The younger boy's body kept up with it's quivering, sounds of undoubtable pleasure becoming more strained as his instincts became lost in the current of pleasure. Usually strategic and thought-out moves had become increasingly more fevered and wild. What soreness that would come from this was lost in the far back of his mind. He struggled to come to some form of grip on reality, but the only grip he held was one the headboard - so tight his hands would be creased on the palms.

Upon shifting himself slightly in an unconscious motion to get himself closer, he was shocked to his climax as the other struck the tender prostate deep inside him. Far too swimming in the sensation, he could only grip the headboard tighter and moan as he came. His back arching in a stunning and shapely curve. Perspiration lined his forehead and temples beside his almost painfully tight closed eyes. Every nerve had been hit by the sudden high, and he was left helpless to even trying to relax back once again.

As the other came, Shino felt the already tight walls apply even more of that delicious pressure around him. Though he didn't manage the same time as the other, he released only a short while after. Achieving the same feeling so hard, his arms were shaking from the effort of not collapsing onto the form below his. Unlike Shikamaru, he managed to remain mostly quiet, save for a gasp and low groan he fought to keep in his chest. The Nara finally seemed able to relax back to the bed in something of a panting heap, Shino's body still quivering as he withdrew. A gentle sound that couldn't be placed in the pain category over the almost disappointed one was audible from Shikamaru's slightly parted lips.

The sheets were twisted slightly as well as the blanket having been pushed off mostly to one side of the bed. He knew he would need to get these washed, but also acknowledge that Shikamaru's abdomen was coated. Deciding for the moment, however, that they both could use the chance to catch their breath, he laid smoothly down next to the brunette, tugging one of the sheets up to drape over the two of them, allowing his arm to rest across the other's chest, pulling him a little closer.

"I've never…felt so…unable to…breathe…how…troublesome," he gasped through his panting. Shino smiled at that, leaning over to press his lips to the corner of the Chuunin's mouth, an eye opening in response to look at the other with an expression that was entirely hard to place. Being used to this, Shino didn't take it for the worst despite his usual habits.

Shikamaru felt the other's fingertips brushing along his arm, letting his eyes close he relaxed, reaching for that strain free body that had been achieved after the previous massage. Soon enough, a regular and steady breathing pattern returned to him. The soreness of his behind began settling in as well, unfortunately. He did not want to sit up, let alone worry about a shower or mission. Now he wished they had waited, a bath and a nap would certainly have made the rest of this day more enjoyable than a mission. But he was as sourly aware of the mission as he was the pain as he moved to head for the bathroom, slipping free of Shino's warm hold.

"What a drag," he pouted, much like he used to when being woken up by his mother in the morning to get to the Academy on time. He heard Shino stir to change the sheets behind him as he closed the door. A voice in the back of his head nearly made him ask the other to join him, suddenly lacking severely on the modesty, but he silenced it quickly. If they did that, he was sure he would never get out of here on time. After all, he couldn't have had more than an hour to forty five minutes left and he still hopped to at least get some food in before walking to the village gates. He started the shower and stepped in to let the warm water refresh him back to a clearer state of mind.

He left the bathroom about fifteen minutes later, transparent of mind but still sore in the butt and irritated. The bed had been remade with his clothes folded on the new blanket, Chuunin vest beside them. They were still clean and decent for a mission he decided, getting dressed and adjusting the collar of his turtle neck as he walked for the living room and eventually kitchen. Shino was seated, fully dressed aside from his glasses, at the kitchen table, working his way through a very colorful salad. When Shikamaru gave him something of an annoyed look, he pointed to the microwave with his fork.

The lazy Chuunin retrieved the reheated fish from the microwave as well as the fork on the counter before taking a seat in the chair beside Shino's. Though the room was quiet, it was far from uneasy. In fact, it had to be one of the most enjoyable silences Shikamaru had ever sat through. Much kin to the peaceful quiet when he watched clouds. However, he felt that it needed to be broken eventually, "Doing anything for the rest of the day?"

"I have a trip collecting bugs with my father for a few hours and I may be spending some time with Hinata later," he responded, moving to drop the plates off in the sink. He proceeded to wash them off, hearing the other step up behind him before feeling affectionate arms move around his waist. There was an irritated 'Tch' before Shikamaru's forehead rested against his shoulder.

"Better than a troublesome mission," the shadow manipulator grumbled into the back of his jacket before adding, "I have to go."

Shino sighed, a little disappointment of his own showing through. He turned in the other's arms to put his own hands on the other's hips. He pulled the Nara forward into a kiss, chastely keeping his lips against the other's for a moment before drawing back. Sunglasses not returned to his face yet, he easily met and held the other's gaze before saying softly, "Love you."

"Love you too," Shikamaru responded, leaning up to kiss those lips again gently. He drew back and headed for the door. Shino watched him as he left, a slightly foreboding feeling running over his skin like an unwelcome presence into his conscious. For the first time, he felt like calling after the other.

_Be safe_.


	2. Chapter 2

Shikamaru could never remember feeling so completely _ill_. It was entirely stupid to think it had been something he ate considering he wasn't really allergic to much and the food had been tested for poison. So the fact he felt sick now, upon waking up only a day into the mission, was rather stupid. He rolled over and attempted to cover himself more so with his blankets as Ino knocked on his door. Granted it was just a delivery mission but it was still safer to send people in teams in case of ambush or hostilities from wherever they were delivering the herbs. As well as the fact it was a long journey so if something happened to one of them, it was safer to have someone else complete the mission while that person retreated back home. Only, Chouji was the one who got stomach aches; not him. He didn't _get _sick, it was too troublesome.

"Shikamaru wake up!" she nagged through the door, the poor Chuunin groaned and curved more over onto his stomach. Ear pressed to the door, Ino once again tried knocking, "What's wrong with you? You sound like you're dying in there."

"Stomach…" he replied though his voice was clearly only more showing that something was wrong. The blonde pushed open the door and headed into the room. It was small and cheap, seeing as they were suppose to be leaving this morning, but how could they if their delivery boy had a tummy ache? She was unsurprised to find Shikamaru completely buried in his covers but the fact one of the two pillows had fallen off the side proved he wasn't lying to get out of work. Shikamaru was a relatively motion free sleeper, he was so caught up in his napping he hardly moved.

"Well what kind of pain is it?" she asked, putting her hand on her hip as she poked around in the blankets in search of her lump of a friend.

"The _painful _kind," he grumbled before biting back a groan that still managed to come out in some form or another. He heard Ino make an unsatisfied sound minutes before she made a pleased one as she jabbed him in the arm. Moving to pull back the warmth that his blankets offered, light flooded the Nara's sleepy eyes making him wince and roll over again like a child not willing to go to the academy. Before he could complete the transition onto his other side, Ino caught his arm and yanked him onto his back.

"I figured _that _out," she snapped back, moving to reach for his stomach. Shikamaru was fully unwilling to struggle as she moved aside his own arms to rest her hand over his stomach. Her skin was usually warm so he didn't mind it as much as he usually did when people with really cold skin tried to do that. He hated doctor's visits; people with cold skin always reminded him of that, "Stop trying to curl up."

"It _helps_," he lied.

"No it doesn't, lie flat," she ordered. Women were too troublesome to argue with really, so Shikamaru fought to do as he was told. But random twitches and tightening of something painful moved through his abdomen as Ino continued to feel over the skin. As her hand rested more over his navel, Shikamaru felt a sudden wave of illness that he barely managed to fight off, "Doesn't feel like anything's wrong…"

"Why don't you jump into my body and tell me that?" he argued back, annoyance evident in his voice. Ino drew her hand back sharply but kept her other on one of Shikamaru's arms to keep him from curling up again. The rather pale looking Chuunin squirmed slightly under the female's gaze though it was more from bodily discomfort than embarrassment.

"What's up?" Chouji questioned from the doorway.

"He says his stomach hurts but I don't think anything's really that wrong. It might just be a cramp or something," she diagnosed.

"I knew it," Chouji said. Ino blinked at him and raised a brow before the plump Chuunin laughed a little, "He's pregnant."

"If I could move…" Shikamaru growled out as Ino lost grip on his arm from surprised. With uncanny swiftness he curled up on his side and wrapped his arms over his stomach again. Ino huffed as she looked back over her shoulder to see her friend had escaped her grasp.

"He is not," she told Chouji, crossing her arms.

"Oh yeah, and how do you know?"

"I'm a _woman _Chouji, I just know these things, okay?" she retorted, as though defending the dying will of her feminism. Turning her attention back to Shikamaru again she struggled him out of his curled position to rest her hand over his stomach. He grunted slightly as her pressing came a bit more consistent and made him feel that much queasier.

"If you don't stop I'm gonna-"

"Stop complaining," she snapped her voice edging with menace and irritation from what Chouji's idea. Shikamaru wasn't pregnant, guys didn't get pregnant and he hadn't taken, done, or had any operations that would allow him to _become _pregnant. Yes, he wanted kids, and if things continued to work out with Shino then he'd find other methods to it, but _he _wasn't pregnant. It was weird and didn't happen…at least not in _this _universe.

"Ino I'm-"

"Stop whining, Shikamaru."

"I'm not I'm trying-"

"I don't think he's whining Ino."

"I know whining when I-"

But Ino was abruptly cut off as Shikamaru shoved her hand to the side and leaned over the side of the bed to vomit what little contents there was in his stomach from the previous day. The kunoichi made a soft squeak as she jumped to the side to avoid her friend's illness making itself quite known across the floor. Shikamaru groaned softly as he moved to sit up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. That definitely was not a pleasant sensation.

"Oh man what a drag," he said, coughing at the sick flavor in his mouth. Chouji moved to comment but before he could manage it, Shikamaru leapt off the end of the bed and dashed to the bathroom connected to his room. Slamming the door, the audible sound of him expelling more stomach contents was heard through the door that Ino had always found she wished was sound proof.

"Told you he wasn't whining."

It was about a half hour later that Shikamaru was able to make five complete steps from the bathroom without feeling like he was going to lose what was left in his bowels. Then again, after the first three times he wanted to know what was _in _his stomach in the first place to be vomited up. Too nauseated to even curse, he made his way back to his bed to sit down on it, cradling his stomach as best as he could. Between the third and the fifth time, Chouji and Ino had gone to fetch a doctor to come and check on him. Shikamaru hadn't been able to tolerate much poking and prodding at his stomach so he wasn't sure _what _the guy had managed to get from it, but the two hadn't returned sense.

He eased himself back into the bed to lay flat, resting his hand on his abdomen and coughing at the sour and burning taste of bile that lingered in his throat and mouth. If he had thought he could make it down the stairs to get something to drink then he would have, but he decided that throwing up half way down would make a bad impression on people concerning Konoha ninja. His eyes clenched a little in pain as another potential wave of illness soared over him and rested on his stomach but it passed without needing the urge to throw up again. He had never _felt _so completely _sick _in his entire life, and he was sure it hadn't been anything he had eaten.

After about fifteen minutes, Ino came back into the room with a glass of some kind of steaming liquid. She pulled a chair over to sit next to the bed and held it out for him. Shikamaru could smell it from where he was and was sure he didn't want to tense his stomach muscles to sit up for _that_. Forget it, too much effort for some funky smelling liquid. Of course the blonde wasn't going to let him get away with it easily, "Shikamaru."

He pretended to be asleep, evening out his breathing keeping his eyes closed, his fingers didn't move and he lie mostly still on his back. Ino didn't move for a while but watched him with clear yet suspicious blue eyes before she heard his stomach shift and he was forced to roll over and clench on it again with a groan, "Damn stomach…"

"It'll help," she told him though her tone was more of a demand that silently instructed him to drink it or face his immediate doom. It took him a minute to decide if he would rather be dead or drink the contents of the cup and after his stomach settled and he regained the feeling of what peace was like, he decided he could handle whatever was in the cup. The Nara boy moved to sit up, using his arms to elevate him and doing his best to shift his body so he wouldn't have to crunch his stomach so much. The cup was warm in his hands and even though it seemed it didn't seem that hot when he took a drink from it. He was sure that didn't make him feel _more _comfortable, "Better?"

"Tch, no," he replied, but it was a bit of a stubborn lie. He didn't want to admit that the liquid actually did help and Ino didn't _quite _scare him enough into being truthful right now. He shifted to lean back against the wall of his bed, feet stretched in front of him, and slouching so his stomach could be mostly stretched out, "Where's Chouji?"

"He went on to deliver the scroll," she told him, hoping that her tone would make it less of a big deal to Shikamaru. She was so very wrong on that one.

"I didn't say you could-"

"It needs to be there by this afternoon and it's only a few more miles, he'll be back by tonight if he hurries and tomorrow morning if he gets held up," she confirmed, doing her best to keep her tone from failing under Shikamaru's more annoyed one. She was used to his complaining but something about his demanding Chuunin tone always got to her, "We would have talked you into it anyway."

"_Troublesome_," he grumbled lightly into the rim of his cup as he took a long drink. It burned his tongue but this situation seemed to call for one of those 'cut off your nose to spite your own face' kind of deals. He was vaguely aware of how strange he was acting but he wasn't sure he could _change _it right now. A few more moments in silence allowed him to feel free in questioning his diagnosis, "Did the doctor get anything?"

"Uh, well, sorta…" Uh-oh. She was stuttering, normally Ino was capable of going off on some form of easy blending explanation. He was now fully confident that he was going to die. Call Shino, let him know he wasn't coming home. Tell Asuma that his smoking was a pain in the ass; Shikamaru was going to the deer-herding lands in the sky. He flicked his cat like eyes to the girl in a motion for her to continue, "See, it's like he found uh…_something _in you. And it's sorta _moving _but he doesn't really know…well what it is."

"My intestines?" Shikamaru questioned sardonically.

"Shut up, Shikamaru!" Ino said, her voice ringing with confusion and a little annoyance that he wasn't taking this seriously. It was _his _health, couldn't he care a little? Shikamaru did silence himself though and waited for her to continue, "It's really small, like a blob or something. All he knows is that it's sorta moving and he wants to run more tests."

_Great_, he thought silently, _Tests. Exactly what I needed to hear._

"What if Chouji was right? Maybe you _are _pregnant."

Shikamaru choked on his tea.


	3. Chapter 3

Shino pushed aside some of the vegetables in the salad before him without much interest before impaling a leaf of lettuce and the cucumber hidden below it. His interest wasn't really in his food but he acknowledged the fact that he had to eat to survive. Plus this was the closest place to the gate into the village that he could find and he had already been at the gate for nearly three hours before someone told him to go get something to eat. It wasn't his fault his stomach had to betray him that way, but he hadn't eaten breakfast so he most likely deserved it. He munched remotely contently on the vegetables, watching the colorful vegetables move from through his shades as he rested his cheek against his hand. Normally he sat up so straight and stiff that anyone would wonder if he had some kind of wooden plank glued to his back – but not today. Stares, for once, could be more than easily justified.

"Don't act like they're bringing back a dead body," Kiba said as he came up behind the Aburame, slapping him jokingly on the back of the shoulder before taking a seat. The owner of the stand gave him an acknowledging look to which Kiba held up two fingers in a gesture for two drinks. Quite used to being snuck up on by the canine-nin, Shino didn't jump so much as just impale his food with a little more force than he intended. Feeling a call in his gut for a need of composure, he sat up a bit straighter in his seat and rested his hands on the wooden bar. Kiba's slitted eyes followed Shino's fingers as they closed around the edges of his sleeves a little; dead give away, man.

"They could be, I haven't heard anything since this morning," he replied after a moment, his voice muffled a little under the hood and behind the tall collar of his shirt and jacket. His voice still managed to remain with its usual hard to reading stature but Kiba was so used to that he had his other ways of reading Shino. One of which was the gripping thing he did with the edges of his sleeves. Dead give away that the guy was nervous, but only if he grabbed the sleeves, if he just fisted his hands that was angry. The way he gripped the sleeves was like a silent gesture that the little kid in him needed something to hold onto but the mature Chuunin that he was realized either the stupidity of that (or the lack of availability) and simply settled for his sleeves. After all, Shino wasn't much of a contact guy and he didn't go around carrying a teddy bear.

Then again, with that jacket, Kiba was always prone to wondering what was _with _those layers.

"You think the guy just kicked it on the trip back or something? Sheash, give Shikamaru some credit," Kiba jested succeeding quite well in keeping up his best front for the Aburame. The owner of the shop set the fresh tea in front of the boys and Kiba immediately picked his up. Once again he slipped a sneaky glance in his friend's direction; Shino was holding the cup with both hands and hadn't picked it up. Alright, that hadn't worked, "He was just sick, right? It could be the stomach flu or something."

Shino shook his head, running his thumb along the edge of the cup as far as it could go without needing to really shift his hands much. Cling, cling, cling, no one could ever really tell just by looking at the guy but he was one of those people that needed something to ground him. Sometimes it was a person and sometimes it was a cup, either way he needed that there and without it Kiba was pretty sure he didn't want to be around for _that _brain crack, "Because they work so much with medicine Naras don't usually catch things like that. Shikamaru's mother says he hasn't been sick since-"

"You called his _mom_?" Kiba attempted not to choke on his drink as he slammed it back to the bar, wiping his mouth on his black leather sleeve. Shino's brow furrowed and he turned to give his friend a look from under the hood, but his hands still hadn't moved.

"I had to _tell _her," Shino remarked, his voice ringing with a tone that either said 'What's wrong with calling his mother' or just pure embarrassed annoyance. Either way Kiba took his cue to back down and looked back to his own cup again, now feeling a little stupid for his reaction. Then again there were a lot of times where he could remember feeling stupid for his actions; he just never regretted it for long.

"Right, sorry," he muttered. The Inuzuka picked up his cup to take another drink to clear away the uncomfortable dryness in his throat from coughing and set it back down on the bar carefully. His black eyes looked over the wood, pulling down his own sleeve a little so he could wipe away where some saliva and tea had managed to escape his big mouth. Shino continued to sit there and silently fidget with his own small cup, running his thumbs in symmetrical motions from the rim, down the sides, circling back and doing it again. A sort of silence settled between the two of them but it was impossible for it to be tense even with what Kiba had said. Shino was used to it, Kiba was used to him, and it was a silently understood…thing. Even Shino couldn't come up with a better word and, though Kiba was far from stupid, he was suppose to be the smart one.

After a few minutes of drawing imaginary designs on the side of the cup he took to simply trying to push his thumbs through it. The Aburame's thin brown eyes watched his fingers closely from behind his shades though his thoughts were clearly not with them. What if Shikamaru _had _died on the way back? The only other possibility that Ino had presented for him was that the Chuunin was pregnant but that was hardly logical. One could always joke that their friends were females but Shino had, quite plainly, _seen _Shikamaru to be _very _much male. He hoped that if there was some strange evolutionary birthing method that Shikamaru knew about he would have mentioned it. Maybe then Shino would have thought a bit more into protection but seeing as Shikamaru was a _guy _that didn't make any sense. Then again he probably should have thought of protection anyway. Now he understood why it was always drilled into their heads by their parents, moods were just influential like that.

Kiba bumped his arm twice with the back of his hand, knocking the other out of his strange thoughts of a pregnant Shikamaru and how awkward that would be. Shino turned on his stool to look where the other was and, being lead through the crowd more than walking through it himself, was Shikamaru being carted along by a slightly worried looking Ino. He pupiless blue-green eyes were flicking around the crowd as though looking for something or someone, Shikamaru wasn't leaning on her but from here Shino could tell he was probably near it. He wasn't walking with his usual slacker composure, strange enough as that was, but he was slouching more than usual and his eyes were closed with one of his hands over them as though he were trying to block out the light. Standing up he brushed aside the sign as he headed through the street for the other, Ino's eyes fell on him and a wave of relief swept through her system.

"There you are!" she sighed out the tension in her. Not meaning to brush her off (though doing it anyway) Shino moved one hand to the other's arm and his other up to the hand covering his eyes. Moving it away carefully he pulled the other's head down to look for his eyes.

The Nara Chuunin looked exhausted, utterly more than he usually did and as though Ino had forced him to walk around the village several hundred times before allowing him to really enter it. Cat like eyes squinted in the light and he immediately angled his head so he didn't have to look into it. Small bags had formed under his already constantly tired looking eyes and he seemed pale – another strange thing seeing as Shikamaru was usually slightly light skinned anyway. He was sure that if the other's hair wasn't up it would be completely bed-ratted like it was when he woke up most mornings; half of him wondered if Ino had made him shower and put up his hair _for _him before they left. He also seemed to be chattering like he was cold though the weather in Konohagakure was warm and tolerable for the day.

"Sun's killing me," he mumbled irritably. Shino guided him back over to the small stand he had been seated at, resuming his seat while Kiba moved to allow Shikamaru his. Gracefully the other collapsed into the chair and let his head fall into his folded arms on the bar. Shino shed his green over-jacket and put it over the other before ordering hot tea.

"He's been like this since about two hours in," Ino said apologetically, sorry for making her friend have to walk so far. Her hand rubbed comfortingly along his back but Shikamaru continued to shake, his fingers clawing around the coat a little to pull it more around him like a blanket. Kiba also hovered near, though he stood a bit more out of the way and his eyes hinted more at his concern than actually doing anything.

"Did he get sick again on the way back?" Shino asked, looking to Ino as his own hand rested over the other's quivering cold one. She looked to him, her eyes usually seemed hinted with a little shock every time he chose to talk but he couldn't blame her, she nodded. She trailed her glance back to her friend again as her hand paused on his back, sighing a little.

"He threw up almost four times."

"Almost?"

"F-False al-larm," Shikamaru spoke up, though his voice was muffled by being buried in his arms. His entire body felt chilly and yet he knew he was partially sweating. His stomach was clenching and doing flips, making him think he was starved one minute and going to throw something up the next. The sweet and hot scent of tea filled his nostrils and he was sure that the little monster in his stomach seemed pleased with that. Shino coaxed him up to a sitting position but after taking the cup, Shikamaru found himself slightly leaning against the other. It was incredible how the body could feel like lead yet still had enough energy to make him shake.

With his hands randomly going into spasms with tremors, Shino decided that after the second time the other hissed with spilling tea on himself it was better that he handle it. Shikamaru seemed fine with that and as the warm liquid coursed through his system the chill went away. He paid attention to the explanation Ino offered about Shikamaru waking up sick and what the doctor had to say. Something moving in him? That definitely sounded like pregnancy but he and Shikamaru had only had sex a few days ago, that was no amount of time for a fetus to develop and actually be _moving_.

"We gotta get him to a hospital or something," she sighed, pulling slightly on the hem of her skirt as she looked down at her own slightly shaking hands, "But I told him we could rest as soon as we got him back because he was complaining so much."

"Can I eat that?"

The uncluttered interjection of the Nara startled the three sitting around him, Shino looked around for what in the Hokage's name he could have been talking about before his eyes settled on the half eaten and forgotten salad. Reaching over he pulled it closer and let the other set it in his lap while he ate, fully capable of wielding the fork on his own now. Shikamaru never usually ate with the same manners as Chouji – which really just meant being able to eat very fast without getting too messy about it. He usually at slow and poked at his food for a while before eating it, unless he was in a rush for some reason or another; but suddenly that had changed. All three of them couldn't help but watch as Shikamaru silently, though quickly and efficiently, worked his way through the salad. After a moment he realized he was being stared at and looked between all three of them before shooting Shino a look, "What?"

Shino's response was hesitant and a little unsure, he fought to keep the shock from showing in his voice at his boyfriend's sudden change in habit, "I've never seen you eat like that."

"Like _what_?" His eyes narrowed. Shino swallowed at the almost offended look in those narrowed eyes, had he said something wrong? Shikamaru never turned on him over comments like that…in fact; Shikamaru had never really _turned _on him at all.

"J-Just fast, that's all he means, and so much," Ino piped up, hoping to safe Shino from whatever wrath her friend was suddenly fueled with. Both boys looked at her, though Shino's expression was a little more hidden by his shades than Shikamaru's. After a moment filled with the potential that, it seemed, Shikamaru would knock her off her chair and eat _her _or just let it go – he chose to let it go. He returned to the current object of his affection, Shino's salad, and munched the rest of his way through it.

All three of them exchanged rather confused glances over Shikamaru's head but the only thing they established was a shrug from Kiba. Giving the deer-herder a few more minutes to rest, eventually Shino managed to coax him to stand and they headed for the hospital. Shikamaru pulled the hood up to shield his eyes and leaned against Shino partially. Had he not known any better, he would have thought Shikamaru was trying to steal his sunglasses but let it go when the other claimed he had 'tripped and his hand just shot out to grab something'. Kiba noted the lack of actual tripping and the fact that Shino's _face _would not have been a good place to grab to steady himself; but he also stayed quiet.

It turned out the medical nin at the hospital were ready to accept him and he was lead away from his friends for a while to be settled. Shino took up a spot in one of the seats in the waiting room, as did Ino, but Kiba had left Akamaru at home and promised the dog he'd be back within two or so hours. After his friend's departure, Shino was left sitting with his arms resting on his thighs, fingers drifting towards the ground and sitting over slightly. Ino was caught looking between the hallway and the table of magazines. Unwittingly, both of them wondered who the heck would actually be able to get their mind off of a comrade in the _hospital_ with just a copy of 'Shinobi Wanted Weekly'. Either way, she picked up a magazine to leaf through it while waiting, Shino watched the floor tiles closely, as though the specks on them would move and he would suddenly be able to play a game of connect the dots.

Was he the only kid that actually _liked _that game?

"Shino?" Ino spoke up after ten minutes of being into 'reading' her magazine.

"Hm?" Shino responded after a moment, forgetting that only people he really knew understood that his silence was just as good an acknowledgement as anything else.

"What if…" she looked over at the taller Chuunin. Shino sat up to look at her through her shades, he had his jacket back but hadn't put it back on yet for some reason or another that escaped him. His eyebrows were relaxed to their usual furrowed position as he peered at her through the glasses. Silently he prayed she didn't say 'What if he dies?'; god don't make him think about that, "What if he really is, like, y'know, pregnant or something?" After a pause she continued softly, looking directly into his glasses though, it was so much easier to look into them than it was into peoples eyes, "Is it…is it like…_yours_?"

In all his years as a male Shino had come to learn one very important lesson; opening your mouth when you were too shocked to form a complete and intelligent thought often got you into trouble. So he sat there, in all his awkward glory, and didn't answer. Ino felt equally as awkward and confused however, because after a moment she looked away in utter embarrassment cheeks a furious pink and eyes widened at her own question, "M-Maybe I should go call s-someone."

"Right," Shino responded, his voice jumping a little strangely to his throat in its rush to make her go away. The kunoichi practically jumped out of her seat and scrambled to the information desk for a phone and Shino could care less who she called. He balanced his elbows on his thighs and put his face in his hands rubbing his eyes from under his glasses as he struggled very hard not to think about his incredibly awkward, however brief, questioning session with the Yamanaka.


	4. Chapter 4

There couldn't have been that much to tell because after only about a half an hour Shino was permitted to go back and see him. Ino had headed out to rest up for a bit before heading back to meet Chouji on his trip about half way back to Konoha. Shikamaru's parents had already come up once they heard their son had returned, his mom seemed to be a bit of a nervous wreck. Once she realized he was okay though, she seemed to be alright. Shino decided it was better to let them have their time with him first before going in for a visit. So he really had to wait about forty five minutes before he could go back to Shikamaru's room. He wasn't sure weather he was pleased with that or it just gave him more time to sit there and get nervous but either way, he wasn't about to high-tail it out of there now.

His room was like any other hospital room really and he didn't even seem to be hooked up to anything really. Shino was more thankful for that than not because it meant that he wasn't dying, that he could breathe and he could eat on his own. So far everything seemed pretty good. The slouching, irritated looking form on the bed even managed to fill him with more relief. It was hard to say anyone looked better in the hospital but Shikamaru really had managed to pull it off. He closed the door behind him and moved to sit on one of the two chairs in the room, "Feeling better?"

"Hospitals are troublesome," he mumbled, but it was clearly more a sign leading towards the positive spectrum of the question. If he was feeling bad he would have found more things to complain about than the hospital setting. Despite his relief though, Shino still had a few other questions that doctors didn't seem prone to answering at the moment.

"Did they figure out what it is?" he questioned, his arms sitting on the side of the bed much like they had been at the restaurant bar. He was holding onto the edges of his sleeves slightly and watched Shikamaru through bottle-cap sunglasses.

The Chuunin was looking off to the side with his arms crossed as though he didn't care or was even embarrassed to be considered for answering the question. Shino's eyes flicked in the direction of some of the monitor type things sitting off to the side of the bed but he wouldn't lie – none of them really made that much sense to him. The only one he recognized was the one keeping the pace of Shikamaru's heart, and that was mostly because he had seen it so many times himself during his own visits in younger years. He could make out the other's brow-furrowed expression even though not much of his face was showing. It was evident that he was thinking, at least attempting to find the right way to say whatever it was he was going to say.

Shino was sure that thought didn't comfort him at all. It must have been bad if he was thinking that intensely; then again maybe he just chose now to be one of those times where he fell into a bought of deciding to not talk. Shikamaru actually didn't play the silent game very well but there were a few times that he tried and he ended up just falling asleep or something. The Aburame was caught between relief and his stomach clenching so tight it was painful when he did decide to speak up.

"They took one of those sonogram things," he mumbled, shifting his arms a little so he could cross them even tighter over his stomach. Shino's eyes immediately flew to the shifting, of course, which made him wonder if it was because he was uncomfortable or embarrassed. Then again it was likely it was also a habit he had seen a million times but hadn't put much thought into until _now_, "It doesn't really _look _like anything though. It's just like this black blur or something in my stomach. They said it's too big to be a fetus in such a short amount of time."

"Everyone seems ready to jump on the idea of it being pregnancy," Shino replied, though it was more softly to himself. The idea was completely absurd, men didn't get pregnant. He had taken that class, had that talk, and seen all the diagrams – it didn't work. Not only that, but a child couldn't properly develop in the stomach anyway, there were too many acids and it didn't have the right fluids or anything. He had a half hour in the waiting room of a hospital to think about this; _it just didn't work_.

"The other option is you're a weird bug alien and you've managed to lay some sort of weird bug thing in my stomach to grow and feed off of my insides until it rips free of my body and goes on a killing rampage or something," he replied. He glanced back out of the corner of his eye at Shino who (as he had come to read beyond the glasses) was not giving him a pleased look at all about that. He almost winced a little but just deepened his frown; right, implications of insulting buggy-jokes were off limits. Sometimes it was just so hard though, but he did get away with a lot more than other people did. If he were anyone else he'd probably have insects crawling on him by now; he fought the urge to check under the blanket, "Sorry, sheash, you know I didn't mean anything by it."

Shino held grudges well but he didn't do well with spur of the moment 'hissy fits'; or at least he hadn't since he was a little kid. Every little kid was prone to those, Shino just grew out of them very, very fast. He sighed and reached a hand up to rub at his eyes, putting his glasses on the top of his head. Surprisingly enough they managed to stay there quite easily without falling down despite his hair. Shikamaru moved his hand to rest it over the other that remained on his bed. He was never that much of a touchy-feely person but he did have his own ways of getting the contact that he wanted. In addition, he hadn't found a more comfortable pillow since Shino anyway though the thought did make him shift slightly as he attempted to get comfortable in the pillows he was given.

"They don't contour to fit your body, you know," Shino remarked after a moment, letting his fingers fall away from rubbing at his eyes. Shikamaru gave him a bit of a look before squirming over towards one side of the bed; Shino raised a brow above a now visible brown eye, "Isn't that against the rules?"

"_You're _the one that closed the door," Shikamaru replied, though he seemed to have suddenly found a new interest in shifting the blankets so they were up around him more. He wasn't wearing his shirt anymore, it was laying over the back of the second chair Shino hadn't occupied as well as his Chuunin vest.

The Aburame stood up and tossed his own jacket over the back of his chair before removing his sandals and sitting up on the bed. The glorious thing about sandals was that your feet were constantly aired so he didn't have to worry about them smelling bad or anything. Ah, yes, just one of the perks of dressing like a ninja. He moved into the bed and pulled over Shikamaru's pillows to lean back against. The Nara made no motion at all of waiting as he leaned against the taller male and draped an arm over his abdomen. He found Shino to be much more comfortable in comparison to the pillows, as well as warmer which was always a plus. The only annoying things were the clasps on his black shirt – but Shikamaru easily managed to work around those.

Shino moved his arm around the other so his fingers rested along Shikamaru's side, the other's stomach must have been feeling better seeing as he wasn't continually shifting or whining. His chin rested on top of the other's head, glancing towards the hair tie.

"Don't even think about it."

The little kid in him puffed out his cheeks at Shikamaru's rejection of allowing him to take the stupid tie out; he was never sure why he was so against it. It wasn't as though he didn't look good with his hair down he just seemed to think it was troublesome to have it in his face. Though Shino had used a kikaichu to cut the tie a few times he never got in serious trouble for it before. Then again, Shikamaru was ill and showed he was clearly capable of being angry earlier so he decided against pushing his luck in any way.

It wasn't unlike him to doze really, he loved napping and sleeping and anything that was akin to not being conscious. Granted, he loved watching clouds which required him to be conscious, but that wasn't really the point anyway. He wasn't sure how long after he had started leaning on Shino that he began to slip into a comfortable sleep but he knew that visiting hours were long over by the time he woke up. That meant that Shino was long since gone as well; surprisingly enough that wasn't the first thing that registered on his mind as a sharp pain through his stomach made him roll over in an attempt to find a more comfortable position.

However, even after rolling over he found that the pain was still there and now even sharper, he curled over his stomach slightly and gripped on the material of the blankets a little more. It was just like when he had woken up the other morning. Except now he didn't feel so much sick as just in pain – random bursts of sharp pain that continued to spread throughout his abdomen without much warning. In a short while he noticed that his breathing was reduced to gasps and the monitor keeping his heart-rate was going a little too fast. Gasping for a decent breath, the lights flicked on as he rolled onto his back again.

The next several minutes were a whirl and blur of voices and smaller, less painful pokes along his body. He was vaguely aware of someone performing CPR but he couldn't even think that he had stopped breathing. The beep from his heart was fluttering quickly and when he closed his eyes he could practically see it stuttering behind his eye lids. Once again that thought that he was going to die spread through his head but something about being in a hospital in his own village made him a bit more panicky than he had otherwise. Or perhaps it was because last time he thought he was going to die he didn't remember having actual issues with his heart. It didn't hurt so much to just breathe and he could at least focus enough to understand people talking to him. Last time his statement of dying was sarcastic and he knew it because he was already feeling better – this didn't feel at all like last time.

Like many other people going through potentially traumatizing experiences that knock them unconscious, Shikamaru had no clue how long he had been out. When his eyes fluttered open again he was aware of the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth as well as the numerous other wires attached to him that hadn't been there before. The light was off but moonlight was seeping through his open window, when he glanced at the glass he noticed that clouds were drifting into and out of his focus. One moment they were illuminated by the moon's glow before they became dark and he lost sight of them again. His brows knit tightly as he closed his eyes, fighting to remember what had happened but all he could recall was pain; and now his body wasn't moving. He must have stabilized sometime throughout it because no one was in the room fretting over him and they had found him well enough to let him rest on his own.

_Maybe I really am gonna die_, he thought silently. Even his inner voice seemed strained and sounded distant, that really could not have been a good sign. When the voice inside your head is hard to hear; what's that mean for the rest of you?

Faintly aware of the fact his alarm was going to go off in about three and a half hours, Aburame Shino turned another page in one of the old books on his clan. There was a reason he could be considered textually smart and knew as much as he did about insects – his family had one of the largest libraries he had ever seen. When he was younger he would come in here to read up on techniques, family history, or insects. The academy hardly required things like page long reports on bugs but he was sure it was in his system to be curious; or maybe he was being stereotypical about his own family. He had a cousin who didn't like some kinds of bugs and was allergic to them – she also didn't like many of the trivial facts about insects and wasn't curious as to how they lived or anything at all really. She took as good care of her colony as anyone else did though, so no one faulted her.

Heaving a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and leaned his head forward enough that his sunglasses slid off the top of his head and softly landed on the open pages of text. It seemed sort of stupid that he had left them on but nearly the moment he got back to the estate from Shikamaru's room he had been in the library. He didn't think he would be there for four hours looking for something he didn't even know about. It was like going on a mission with no objective – he had no clue as to why he was here or how he had allowed himself to be here long enough to get a headache like he had. All that he knew was that he hadn't gotten anywhere from where he had been and that his alarm was going to go off as six thirty in his apartment and he wasn't there. He laced his fingers together and rested his chin against them, looking at the lamp spewing light across the books he had open and left open for other leads. As the brown hues adjusted outside of text, he wondered if that light had been brighter when he first started. Was the bulb already dying? It was almost sad to think he could have been there for _that _long.

"Shino?"

The voice made his ears throb from the silence they had adjusted too, but it also sent a shrill of alertness down his spine. Immediately sitting up straighter he tore his gaze away from the light to turn in his chair, spinning to meet his father's gaze. Shibi Aburame was as composed and mysterious as anyone else in his clan, rarely ever seen without his sunglasses and insect-gourd, but being at home did entitle him to some relaxation. He was dressed in only a pair of sleeping pants, holding a mug of warm tea in his hand. Shino's gaze lingered on the tea, a substance he could practically smell from where he sat. His father often gave him that same tea when he couldn't sleep right after he got his second queen. The colony was buzzing under his skin in anxiousness and remorse over the damage it had caused to its host's body. He went downstairs to find something to do and encountered his dad in the kitchen – ever since then Shino immediately equated that tea with sleep.

God he could use some tea right now.

"You look exhausted, is it your colony?" Shibi questioned immediately. Shino wasn't surprised, when things were wrong with his kikaichu he often couldn't sleep and it lead to worrying in both of his parents. He shook his head slightly and turned once again to lean over the desk.

"I was trying to figure out what might be wrong with Shikamaru but I don't seem to be getting anywhere," he replied, voice weary and open as it often was with his father. It was hard to consider them distant; it was more as though how to deal with his family was grafted into his DNA. Even if his clan seemed introverted it was just a misunderstood language by other people – Shino knew that language all too well so he understood to feel open with his father. In rambling you could say nothing at all; in nothing you could speak a million words. Or something like that.

Shibi remained quiet for a moment after that, watching Shino as he tried to focus on the words which were slipping in and out of his sight. The silence of the room had slipped through him and he was so submersed he couldn't think of sleeping. However, now his concentration had been broken and the light seemed as though it were begging to be turned off. A voice in his head echoed 'just a few minutes, just put your head down' but he refused. The scent of that tea certainly wasn't helping him at all either. For a moment he thought his father had left the room entirely and returned to bed, so when a hand rested on his shoulder he was nearly startled. He turned to glance up towards his father who was offering him the tea.

He frowned at it, "That tea puts me right-"

"To sleep," he replied in a voice that had that hint of all knowing fatherly wisdom. Shino hated that voice and needed it at the same time. At least every once in a while, he wasn't dependant but who could blame him for taking comfort in knowing he didn't have to do everything all the time? "Take it."

Despite Shikamaru's condition ringing in his ears, he took the tea and turned off to the side in his chair so he wouldn't have to face the texts. He looked down and watched his fingers close around the brown mug, warmth spreading rapidly through his hands. Stupidly, he hadn't realized how cold his hands were. The liquid inside was rich and tan, hinted towards gold when honey was added – which his father had done. There was no tea bag, specially made and kept in a jar in his parent's cupboard. He had his own jar at home for nights when he couldn't sleep; he'd never let himself come to his parents at two in the morning to steal their tea because he couldn't sleep.

"Drink." A one word order that snapped Shino from his thoughts, lifting his head to notice his father wasn't around. He glanced around before his eyes fell on him looking through books in a distant corner; a few more lights were on too that he hadn't noticed. _I'm so out of it_, he thought silently, lifting the cup to his lips to take a drink from it. The warm liquid seeped down his throat and warmed his insides in its decent, whatever was in it worked over his nerves and spread as much as it could through his body. He could already tell that by the time he got halfway through he would be deeply out of it in his current state.

Rather than being urged on by his father again, Shino continued to take a few smaller sips to let the relaxing numbness slip through him gradually. His mind was running even farther than it had already ventured tonight and he was wondering how he would get home if he couldn't even notice when lights had been turned on around him. But the worry wasn't enough to overcome the exhaustion he had already submitted himself too; the tea was becoming the only cure for that.

After a few more minutes his father returned with a book in tow and Shino's eyes traveled from the mug to the book. He blinked at it but his reactions felt slow and drawn out, like it was taking forever for his eyes to open and close. Maybe he had done it twice just to be sure he had done it at all either way the book was still there after both attempts. He held the mug back out to Shibi again and compulsively wiped his hands on his jeans before taking the book. He opened it but seemed more fascinated with the pages slipping between his fingers than the actual words there, the words seemed like such a task to decipher right now.

"Sleep here tonight, take that with you," Shibi told him, but his voice was softer and more urging than the command tone had been previously with the drink. Shino looked back up at his father once again and blinked before nodding and standing up. In the back of his mind he wondered if the tea always had this effect on him and if there was some weird controlling agent in it that just made him listen to whatever he was told to do after drinking it. When he woke up the next morning he would realize those thoughts were completely stupid and he was just so tired the effects worked over time.

Either way, he held the book in one hand as he moved down the hall towards his old bedroom. Eventually he would be moving back to the estate but it was better for him to get the experience of living on his own for a few years before he did. Besides, Shino liked having his own apartment and it entitled a lot more privacy when Shikamaru came over. Then again – maybe he'd just move in with Shikamaru one day; there were too many possibilities to think about right now. He bid his father good night as he closed the door and navigated the room with ease, setting the book on his old desk and sliding under the neatly made and familiar covers. The clasps of his black coat were uncomfortable but his body felt too heavy to move so he fell asleep fully dressed aside from his jacket, sunglasses, and headband. All that his body wanted to do right now was sleep – and his brain was willing to comply.


	5. Chapter 5

_A shadow? No. Insects. A swarm of surprisingly unfamiliar black bugs was swarming towards him uncontrollably. Which was completely absurd considering he was an Aburame; insects were his forte. So why weren't these ones listening to his chakra command to turn back? True they weren't his own colony, he could feel that buzzing around inside of him, but they were still insects. He should have been able to communicate with them, feel them, understand them unlike anyone else. All he could feel from this group was a buzzing of wild attack – he took a step back as they got closer. Roaring upward into a large wave to crash down on him._

_Except they didn't crash on him; they were after something behind him. Whirling around he saw the wave hit the ground at Shikamaru's feet. The Chuunin looked entirely confused and lost, holding something close as they migrated up his legs. Shino swallowed his tongue which suddenly felt thick, attempting to call out only made him choke. He tried to move instead; a success but the bugs were so much faster than him._

_Shikamaru lifted his face to look at the other, eyes still wide and nervous. It was as though he was unaware of what was going on but his eyes looked so hurt. Were they eating him? They weren't kikaichu, so it was likely. He opened his mouth but there was no sound, seconds before he was completely enveloped he threw what he had been holding so dearly. Shino froze, brown eyes flicking between his lover and what had been thrown. He couldn't read lips but something told him Shikamaru was screaming at him to catch it. Catch what?_

_As though his body was being controlled by an invisible puppet master, Shino dove forward and caught the cloth that had been handed to him. The sense of chaos echoing throughout his brain calmed before he looked up again, and by the time he had Shikamaru and the bugs were both gone. His heart was thudding so painfully in his chest as he looked, wide eyed, back at whatever it was he had caught. It wasn't moving, there was no sound. He could faintly pick up the sense of weak chakra from it – he prayed it wasn't a swarm of insects to eat him this time._

_Pulling back the covers he found a child covered by the gray cloth. He swallowed thickly and blinked. This boy was much too big for the small bundle he was holding; but no sooner had he realized it than the kid transformed into his full size, weight included. As he opened his eyes, Shino noted they were a forest-mix of Shikamaru's greenish and his own brown like. He blinked quickly, faintly aware that his eyes were still wide, looking down at the boy expectantly. Was this…his child? Thinking for a moment that the boy could read his thoughts, he watched as his mouth opened and words began to form. No, not words. A loud and obnoxious ringing beep._

Shino jolted upright in his bed so fast he nearly fell out of it; which was amazing because he slept on his back most nights when he slept alone and didn't move often. It worried Hinata and Kiba on their first few over night missions with him – thought he had died in his sleep. Reaching up to press a hand against his forehead he looked around wildly for whatever was making that ridiculously loud sound. His alarm clock wasn't where it normally sat, to his left, and in realizing that he realized that this wasn't even his bedroom. Or rather…it was but it was his old, childhood bedroom.

Immediately making the connection, he turned to his right instead to find the alarm clock and turn it off. With one task completed, he rested his face in his hands and hunched forward out of his usual stiff appearance. His breathing was calm but he was aware that his body was shaking and he couldn't seem to control it enough to make it stop. With each exhale it shuddered out and unbelievable tenseness and uneasy feeling that had spread from his mind to the rest of his body. His stomach was clenched in knots and when he pulled his hands from his face he could see his fingers jittering as badly as the rest of him.

_What_ was _that?_ The questioned echoed through his mind without an answer to make it stop. That had definitely been one of the strangest dreams he had ever had and he had been known for some crazy nightmares when he was younger. His brown eyes watched his hands shake for a few more minutes before shaking his head and clenching them to fists. His eyes soon followed suit as they closed tightly and he applied pressure with the heel of his hand. As usual his brain was going off on potentially different meanings of it and the only logical thing he could credit it to was stress. He wasn't a seer – he didn't know Shikamaru's condition or what had caused it. He was sick, that was all he or anyone else knew.

Morning sunlight peeked at him through the window beside his bed, warming up his arm and gradually spreading over his backside as well. The warmth seemed to help him calm down and the buzzing of his kikaichu seemed to shudder and ease back to its normal calm as well. He was a little worried over the fact that dream had managed to startle him enough to get his insects worked up, but with its effects wearing off a little he couldn't claim to be too nervous. Instead he turned to lean his back against the wall and extend his feet towards the opposite side of his bed. They stuck out over the edges a little but he only used that as justification to kick off his sandals and let them fall to the floor. Inclining his head he let the early morning heat spread over the back of his neck a bit more fully.

It took a few minutes for him to be completely relaxed, but with a few deep breaths and the sun reaching higher in the sky in its slow, gradual movement – he was eventually calmed again. The Aburame lifted his head slightly to look towards the head of his bed and eventually let his eyes scan over much of what was in his room. Not a lot had been changed since he left; he wouldn't even doubt that the made bed he had crawled into last night was still last made by him. The room was void of dust or grime which meant that someone must have come in here over the past few years to clean it up.

As his eyes fell over pictures of him and his parents when he graduated, before and after pictures of his first mission with Team Eight, his expired passport, and a few old scrolls he began to feel more like a little kid. Granted he wasn't very old to begin with right now but he still was feeling that sense of vulnerability in the face of trying to appear strong. The vastness of his room compared to him on his bed and how years when he was less wise weren't _that_ far behind him. He couldn't say that it brought his search for an answer to Shikamaru's illness to any new light. If anything – it made him feel at least five times more depressed.

Relatively expressionless eyes fell on the book that looked out of place in its setting on his desk. His mind clicked faster now that it was calm, relating the book back to his previous night of exhaustion and searching. The brief conversation with his father and being sent off to bed like a kid once more; but more importantly how his father had looked for this book and had been sure to give it to him before he went to bed. Shino slid off the bed to pick up the book from its resting place, pulling the chair out and sitting down at the old desk which still seated him pretty comfortably.

_Diary of Rare Phenomena in Aburame History_ was the rather suspicious sounding title. The book was about medium size and the writing inside was small but neat and easy to read. Unfortunately, however, the book's table of contents didn't go by symptoms so much as the usual names. He had to go through a few guessing works to even figure out something close to what he was looking for. In researching 'Reverse Parasite Syndrome' – a nasty problem where the kikaichu colony turned offensive on its own host even after being accepted into the body and usually resulted in death – he was lead to find something called 'Parasitic Host Analysis'.

After a short amount of reading his stomach immediately began to fall…

"The middle of the night?" Chouji questioned, frowning at the doctor who had been sent out to greet him upon his arrival to visit his best friend. The doctor gave a solemn but slight nod at the question, lifting papers to look at ones lying beneath them on his clipboard. Chouji watched but he swore that doctors only did that because if they didn't they might have to actually look someone in the eye for once. He was aware that the voice in the back of his head was telling him that was only his worry speaking.

"Yes, he dropped to a critical condition unexpectedly. We gave him pain medication and managed to stabilize him but it was a scare. He seems to be better this morning but we've ended up numbing much of his stomach and he's scheduled for another sonogram to see if there's any progress or change in the stomach," he explained, dropping the paper to look back up at Chouji. The usually pleasant faced Akimichi didn't seem too thrilled by the news of his friend's condition. He crossed his arms and shifted his weight, looking over the doctor's shoulder and down the hall. When his gaze moved back again he seemed to be contemplating moving passed him anyway – after all he was bigger. But the idea of that soon left his mind.

"So when's the next time I can get in to see him?"

"Once he's done with his sonogram he should be alright to visit – about an hour," the black haired doctor estimated. Chouji sighed in annoyance before moving to take his seat again; it wasn't like he had anywhere better to go. He'd already brought food for himself because he knew he would be waiting anyway. It had taken fifteen minutes alone for the doctor to show up in the lobby and now he had another hour? He couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't leave and come back after getting something more filling than the chips he had brought with him.

He slouched in the chair he occupied and picked up one of the magazines on the table. None of them looked particularly interesting but if he read than there was a larger chance he might be able to not think about the fact his best friend of at least twelve years might be dying in his hospital room. The one he happened to grab wasn't particularly interesting though; when did Shinobi Wanted Weekly go so down hill? It was originally a magazine for telling about which criminals were wanted and disclosing what known personal skills they had. The articles it did write were mostly about jutsu and people from other villages sending in stupid mistakes in the execution of their techniques that made them back fire.

The featured article in this one was mostly about the defeat of a high level ninja from the Village Hidden in Stone. The only interesting thing about it was that the guy was beaten by a back firing jutsu – it reminded him of when he heard that Lee fought best when he was drunk. How anyone could manage to do that was beyond him but it certainly was interesting to think about. He was bordering on admiring the guy for it and being completely baffled at the same time.

Tossing the magazine back on the table, he glanced over the rest of the selection. Kunoichi Press – Ino read that one. When they were genin she would sit there for ages and ask him and Shikamaru 'Would Sasuke like this' or 'Would Sasuke like that'. She didn't talk about him much anymore, but the featured articles on this one didn't seem to be too interesting. Though he remembered a few months ago they did some article on 'Best Bad Ninjas – the dangerous cuties that are hard to not fall for'. Unsurprisingly one Uchiha Sasuke was high ranking in that poll. Ino threw out the magazine without even reading the rest of the articles.

Chouji fished a bag of chips out of the pack at his side and opened it up before popping some of the barbeque chips into his mouth. The familiar flavor seemed more comforting than anything else had been since the morning Shikamaru woke up sick. Ino had told him all she could while returning to the village with him but she didn't know much. She mentioned how worried Shino was and that he couldn't have been too bad because he walked to the hospital and he ate once they got back to Konoha. His moment of offense was squished under shock when she mentioned Shikamaru ate like he did at the stand.

The words 'Shikamaru Nara' drifted to his ears, standing out against the rest of the fuzz that seemed to be eclipsing his brain. Chouji lifted his head to look in the direction of the desk, spotting a familiar dark green hooded jacket. Though it seemed more thrown on than as elaborate as Shino usually appeared, his hood wasn't even up. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he stood up, tossing the now empty bag of chips into the trash can as he drew closer to the conversation.

"I'm sorry Aburame-san, but he's having a sonogram right now. The doctor can come out and speak with you in-"

"It's _urgent_. It has to do with his condition, send in another doctor to take over while I speak with him," Shino urged. The younger brunette noted that he sounded tired and a tad frantic, almost like he was jittery or nervous. As he got to the others side he noticed a book on the desk with a book marked page, normally he may have moved to take it and look through it but Shino seemed to jump nearly a foot in the air when he moved up next to him. He was sure those brows were furrowed over exhausted and annoyed eyes behind those sunglasses. It seemed to take him a moment to figure out who Chouji was at all before he looked back to the nurse behind the desk.

She just put the phone back to the receiver, "He'll be out in five minutes."

"_Thank you,_" Shino remarked, though he didn't sound entirely as composed or thankful as he probably should have or usually did. He moved to lean against the wall, crossing his arms over the book like he thought someone might attempt to take it from him. Chouji followed and couldn't help the concerned look in his eyes; after all, Shino was his best friend's boyfriend.

"What's wrong? You're acting like you haven't slept in a week or your brain exploded," the Akimichi questioned. Shino's fingers were wrapped with intent around the book in his arms and he lifted his face towards Chouji but he wasn't sure the guy was actually seeing him. It was nerve wrecking really, to see someone like Shino who was normally so composed acting like he had lost it. If Shino lost it, what hope was there for the rest of them?

"I think I know what's wrong with him," he said after a deep breath, reassuring Chouji slightly with a more controlled tone. Good, that was better; he was about ready to run off and find Hinata or Kiba and ask them if the guy was broken.

"Really?" he asked, a sense of nervousness and relief echoing through his voice. Shino swallowed and nodded, once more taking a deep breath. Chouji's shoulders relaxed though he still felt tense; it couldn't have been too bad if he was acting calm. After all, if Shikamaru was going to die then even Shino would be reacting with more…uncontrolled actions than he was now. Maybe that was what had scared him so much, the fact that Shino looked so shaken; it made him feel completely in the dark and like Shikamaru was already dead but no one was telling him, "What is it?"

Shino took another deep breath and looked off to the side, frowning behind his black coat-like shirt as he continued holding the book. He opened his mouth to respond to Chouji as the doctor came over and called him away. After a few moments of explaining something, opening the book and pointing to things, Shino headed back. Chouji only managed to catch the words 'parasite' 'insect' 'body' 'eating away' and 'fatal'. None of which were making him feel comfortable at all; god now he was wishing Shikamaru really was pregnant. It'd me so much easier to hear…

"Wha-what did you tell him?" Chouji asked, following the doctor who rushed back down that damn hall where Chouji couldn't follow. Shino sank into a chair and rubbed his eyes under his glasses; he really was shaking now.

"I…" he started softly, his voice seeming to be ever so slightly choking. Sitting up he leaned forward to rest his face in his hands, elbows on his thighs. Taking another breath he was still shaking, it was audible now. People in the lobby were watching them – what a sight it must have been to see an Aburame potentially crying. Chouji, however, swallowed nervously and began to move forward, only to be halted by the completion of that sentence, "I think I killed Shikamaru."

A _death_ sentence.


	6. Chapter 6

-1**Author's Note: **I wrote a previous draft for this story that was like...really, really bad so I went back and rewrote it. The other was way too rushed and I had to figure out how to fit in the explanation of PHA in it which was all weird. So yeah, I think I more smoothly managed to do it in this revised chapter but it seems a little fragmented and more broken than I would have liked.

I'm trying to weasel in some shounen-ai elements seeing as with all this drama it isn't showing up much. Hopefully you all don't mind a little corny-romance type stuff in here. I think I'm doing okay with keeping them mostly in character so I owe myself a _little_ OOC.

I wonder if I wrote random little fluffy stuff people would read it. Have I gotten that many people into this pairing yet? Haha! 

Well anyway, yeah, you may feel like you got no where in this chapter but hopefully it managed to keep you on the edge of you seat for the ultimate fate of Shikamaru in the next chapter.

---

What was that old child's saying? 'One potato, two potato, three potato, four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more' or something along those lines. That ridiculous saying couldn't have been anymore accurate for the feeling in the hospital room by now. Only forty-five minutes had passed before Shino was told that what he came up with was accurate and from that point everything increasingly rushed downhill. He and Chouji were left sitting in the waiting room as the hospital bustled around them. Everything was tense and uncomfortable, neither had spoke since Shino's explanation of what was wrong according to his findings. A tense and sinking feeling labeled only as guilt rested in his stomach and the silence of his lover's best friend was hardly comforting to him.

_"Parasitic Host Analysis pertains to the rare yet possible case of a host become infected with a sub-colony of parasitic insects. The awareness of such insects is hardly ever known, until some exchange of bodily fluid, as they do not respond to the host's chakra commands nor do they share a parasitic relationship with the host._" The textual evidence derived from the diary echoed through his brain, denting remorse deeper and deeper into his head with each collision. _"The sub-colony is usually small and lives out of the way of the Aburame's main colony to avoid conflict. In the event that the sub-colony is transmitted to someone - outside the host in general or, more devastatingly, outside a member of the Aburame clan - the parasites will begin to act more as their name implies. Depending on the first infected location, they will migrate throughout the body eating away at inner tissue. The sub-colony shares a fatal parasitic relationship with its new host until the host dies which then leads to the death of the colony as well." _Death. Fatal. Parasitic relationship. They all meant the same thing in any term he attempted to look at them from.

The insects were harmless inside his body; he didn't even know that they were there at all. No one could have because they were undetectable and looking for them wasn't in the list of potential complications from his previous problems. All the issues with his queen and colony in his earlier years of life, the problems that left him writhing in pain and seeing the inside of this hospital one too many times and the scars left on his body now, should have been resolved. After all of that it still came back to attack him now, when he was suppose to be free of it - suppose to be _happy_.

Hours had passed now without word from the doctors or nurses or anyone about what was happening with Shikamaru. It seemed as though anyone who knew him or the Nara had arrived at the hospital to await the results. Chouji had left a few hours ago to eat through his worry but Ino had shown up in his stead with both of Shikamaru's parents in tow. When Chouji did return he was explaining the situation to Kiba, who had clearly shown up as support for Shino who needed it but hardly thought he could receive it from anyone; even his best friend. Hinata had arrived for her medical ninja duties to the sight of tense and worried friends, she promised to get any information she could about his condition but the situation was too drastic for a trainee to be in the operating room.

One hour, two hours, three hours, four. A quick glance at the clock told Shino that he had been here nearly five hours and the waiting room was emptying out save for the party of people waiting on their friend, son, or lover. He brought his brown eyes back to the mug on the table. It was originally his as the frequent taste of bile continued to rise and fall inside his throat. His stomach hadn't been released from its grip, like the guilt was attempting to crunch his insides into a tiny ball and rip them out through his navel for him. He felt sick, he felt tired, he felt tense and he felt guilty. Kiba's continual attempts at conversation were met with little or no reply at all to the point that he had settled into leaning forward with his hands on his legs while Shino remained upright and hidden.

He burrowed deeper and deeper into himself like he did when he was a child, when he first started the academy and before he had joined Team Eight. The deeper he burrowed the more tunnels showed up and the more tunnels that showed up the more guilt attached to his body. This attempt at relief, at comfort, had always only lead him further into his problems. Further to the point he had once had a box filled with notes addressed to no where and covered in sentences that depicted fragments of a suicidal mind. In fact, he was sure that box was still at his apartment hidden in the back of his closet. He hadn't felt that way in years, he didn't read through his old notes, they simply stood as a reminder for what he had over come that was now over coming him.

"Aburame-san?" The sudden question from his friend in such a formal tone snapped Shino's attention from his distantly focused on staring contest with the mug. Kiba had never referred to him in a formal way, not even when they first met, so it startled him to think he'd start now. As he turned to look though he realized that Kiba wasn't referring to him at all but his father instead.

Shibi Aburame was heading towards the party.

He looked rushed which was an unnerving change from Shino's normal view of his father, like he had literally run over here. The only time his father ever appeared rushed was on missions and there were very few of those that Shino had been on with him and even then he was always calm and collected. However now he still appeared as calm but in a sense nervous as well - though that could have simply been the looming bubble of doom he had just stepped into.

"What're you doing here?" Shino asked, only feeling an increasing sense of insecurity at the appearance of Shibi. There was no way Shikamaru could have died and they called Shibi before telling his own parents. As though worried that his zoning out had allowed time for the two to be called aside and spoken with he looked in their direction. Shikaku and Yoshino were still sitting where they had been for the past hours; on a couch with Yoshino's head on her husband's chest and his arms enveloping her comfortingly. She had cried for at least the first hour over the news though Shikaku seemed nearly stoic. But this little confirmation was enough to let him know that his father hadn't been called in to tell him of Shikamaru's death.

"They believe I may be able to assist along side The Fifth; he may stand a better chance with a more experienced Aburame attempting to control the sub-colony," Shibi informed him. Shino nodded though it was as distant as the rest of him was. His brain was here but not here; he was afraid if it was fully where he sat that he would vomit or start sobbing. He was doing his best to be strong but he was aware that one could only manage for so long in the first place, "They are a sub-colony of _yours_, Shino, do you think you can stand to accompany me?"

The words yanked him by an invisible rope out of the burrows he had attempted to created but the feeling swelling painfully inside him wasn't illness or tears. Accompany his father into the operating room? To see Shikamaru lying open on that table while he attempted to call parasites from his own system out of him? The thought of it was beginning to stir that nausea in his stomach again and he was aware that Kiba was looking at him. His ego battled with his pride who both were bashed by his sense of responsibility and guilt…but all of which were squished by his fear of seeing what he had done.

He shook his head once, twice slowly and then once more for confirmation for himself. He couldn't go in there and see that, not now. There was too much inside of him to be of any use anyway; if he tried he would only see Shikamaru's body open in front of him and a welling black mass festering in his abdomen. It would only reflect the fact that he was the one who had done it like a bright light into his face. What little control it was that he maintained _out here _would be completely lost _in there_. Another layer of guilt was added because of his pettiness and fear and he could read his father's disappointed, although understanding, expression behind his glasses.

"I understand," he said, giving a nod for further reassurance. Though before he moved he put a hand on Shino's shoulder, his son already having averted his eyes. Yes he understood where it was Shino's conclusion had arrived from but he should have also understood the problems with the situation. There wasn't a solid bit of proof that Shikamaru's survival rested on his ability to communicate with his sub-colony but there wasn't a solid bit of proof that Shikamaru would _survive _either. Shino could not bring himself to look back, "Remember though, that I have witnessed you on an operating table many times before and stayed at your side to perform what I had to in order to ensure your survival. At times all that someone may require of us is our strength to do what is necessary."

Kiba watched as Shibi turned to leave, disappearing behind the corner of the hallway to head back for the operating room. When he turned to check back on his friend again, Shino's arm had raised to press a sleeve over his uncovered and watering eyes and he was gripping with intent on the side of his jacket.

Tsunade had arrived two hours previously to a sorry sight of one of her best Chuunin strung up to numerous machines and failing fast. There weren't many occasions where the hospital required her assistance but thankfully most of her job as Hokage left her with paperwork that could afford to be left behind while she dealt with someone in such a critical state. Shikamaru wore an oxygen mask and a cloth with a seal on it had been resting over his eyes to repel the insects should they go for his brain. Other similar clothes had been placed around vital areas that had not yet been attacked but by the time she arrived they had already been rapidly moving throughout his body and heading towards his heart.

When she had been called in it had been reported that he had already flat lined and been revived once which lead her to believe that a small portion of them had already ascended to his heart and were attacking that from the inside. Her focus had been to immediately repel or kill those insects with as little damage to the heart as possible - a feat that had not proven easy and would result in a very risky procedure for his heart later on. For now though, the main concern was removing the rest of the insects from where they had begun to move and eat along the inside of his body. The only thing she was thankful for at the moment was the fact that protecting Naruto had helped her to overcome her fear of blood because the Nara had been laying open on a table for the two hours she had been here with doctors bustling around him.

"Glad you could make it here so fast Shibi," she said as the Aburame walked into the room. He nodded to her and moved up to the side of the table, looking over at the damage. The insects were visible from where they were, accurate and potentially fatal slices had been made to get to the point where they would be visible and Shikamaru's body literally crawled with them. Unlike with an Aburame their damage was clear with splotches of damage where they had eaten away at his stomach as well as other areas, "We've isolated most of them in his stomach but some have spread to his lungs and heart. Can you remove the ones in his stomach? I wanted to see if that was possible first before we risk his health even more by going near his heart."

"Has he had poor responses to foreign chakra?"

"No, so mild jutsu should be safe."

Shibi nodded and pushed back one of his sleeves to expose the well worn holes where Kikaichu had crawled in and out of his arms. Spreading his fingers he hovered his hand over the Nara's stomach and proceeded to send out a low web of chakra over the insects. The attempt was delicate yet beckoning as he tried to call the insects to him which at first did not respond at all and seemed as though they may get hostile but eventually began to pull back from their damaged areas and crawl from Shikamaru's body. Tsunade observed from the side as the insects began to creep out of the open abdomen of the boy on the table and crawl down towards the floor.

"No hostile movements," Shibi warned as some of the doctors eyed the bugs with contempt and fear. As the black swarm left red, ulcer like damage behind Shibi moved onto the ones persisting at Shikamaru's lungs while Tsuande moved forward to repair the damage.

Shikamaru was faintly aware of a familiar pain in his stomach even in his incredibly drug induced sleep. He knew that when he woke up he was just going to be tired again but something about being forced to be unconscious made sleep really boring. Something was obviously incredibly wrong when he could enjoy one of his favorite things to do, though when he woke up and allowed himself to fall asleep on his own he knew it would just seem fine with him. To pass the time he had managed to end up in some inner blackness inside of his mind, it felt like he was thinking but he wasn't sure that he was.

"I'd better not fall into a coma, that'd be troublesome," he mumbled though his voice only echoed through his head. His 'thoughts' began to drift on what little he had been told before being rushed off to the emergency room like he was and sedated. Shino had shown up with some grand explanation for what was wrong with him and apparently it was right because he was aware of the fact he had to have been out for at least a few hours. Something about parasitic insects deciding he was their new host or something. Turned out that his previous joke at Shino's expense wasn't so far off - the thought made him mentally wince but he wasn't sure how much that came forward in the 'real' world.

He could only imagine how guilty Shino must have been feeling considering the insects didn't come from Shikamaru's own body. It must have happened during their time together before his mission and he had apparently been 'lucky' that Shino caught it so quickly. He wasn't feeling very lucky at the moment but they hadn't reached anything vital or else he wouldn't have been alive to be thinking like he was. Then again, maybe he was dead and he just didn't know it. Maybe he was dead and this was all death was - black void.

"A really _boring _black void is more accurate," he sighed. He felt like he was frowning but he didn't know if he was and he was faintly aware of a pain in his chest. It was more like a dull ache and he wasn't even sure it was there but he knew that it was just adding more-so onto his problems. Was this what it was like to feel really bad for someone? He hadn't before, not in this way. He couldn't…imagine what Shino must have been thinking right now. Sitting in the hospital waiting room holding onto _something _while attempting to make it seem like he was strong. There was a chance he had already cracked too, it wasn't like Shikamaru didn't know how Shino could have reacted.

All of this would be his fault in his eyes, he could have prevented it in some way or form if he had thought about it but hadn't the doctor said it was rare anyway? He wouldn't have done anything if he had known about it and Shikamaru understood that but unless someone specifically drilled it into his brain the chances of Shino understanding it were even less likely. If he were to die on this operating table then Shino would never realize that Shikamaru didn't blame him or if he did it wouldn't be more than a thought in the back of his mind. A consideration and even though he knew that the Nara was above it, Shikamaru knew he just wouldn't _get _it the way he should have.

The pain in his chest increased beyond its dull ache as his mental frown deepened; what if he did die? Right now on this table his body just gave up or the bugs ate his brain or something. After all it wasn't like he knew the situation beyond what he had been told and the fact he was still unconscious. If he died then thing would only take a turn for the worst for Shino. That was the only place his concern really arrived - was in Shino. He had never been afraid to die, it was a part of life even if he didn't think he'd die this young. Somehow he had managed to get twisted up in dangerous missions and when he lead the team to go after Sasuke it was true he was left mostly uninjured but was this what he had survived for? To be killed by _insects _inside of him from his lover? It seemed like a stupid end.

Though there was little he could do about it if that was the way things managed to turn, the thought moving through his system with a cold sensation. Even without giving up where he was now he had been unconscious for so long maybe he was just dead. That was all there was too it - well someone could have at least given him a _notice _or something. He didn't think he could really be blamed for wanting to know when or if he had died which left him fluttering between he was already dead or he was going to die. He had been unconscious for too long to be going anywhere good and the more he thought about it the more his chest began to ache.

"Maybe my heart's breaking," he remarked quietly to the echo in his empty mind, "Mom always told me I'd really be able to feel it when it did…how troublesome…"

"Heart beat increasing rapidly," one of the nurses remarked near the machine. The beeping had been drifting between normal and slowing but now the sudden increase had Tsuande even more concerned. Shibi had moved to his heart to see if he could remove the bugs without the need for the attempt at surgery and though a few had been removed it seemed the others were intent to stay. With the jump in heartbeat there was a chance the insects would be startled and the seal wouldn't be of much use.

"Should we go in?"

"We can't, with the way his heart is moving it'll kill him," Tsunade cursed silently. Shibi withdrew his chakra and massaged his palm as he turned his attention back to The Fifth. Her brow furrowed deeply as she looked over what had been cleaned up and repaired. Much of the sub-colony had been removed and isolated from his body but the ones that did remain in his heart were too dangerous to tamper with. They may or may not had sped up his heart beyond what they could do. Theories and ideas ran through her head but many of them were dangerous.

"Tsunade-sama?" a doctor asked over the fluttering beep of the monitor.

"Damn kid," she mumbled under her breath. Since when had Shikamaru become as annoying as Naruto? She should have been so used to the problems from this group that graduated with the blonde, "Alright, I'll need someone to suppress his heart rate while another goes in to make a large enough incision that Shiri can get a more direct flow with the insects. I'll make sure that nothing fatal registers in his system but everything has to be exact and precise. If we mess this up he won't make it."

"The ones in his heart were giving me problems, I'm not sure even a direct flow would allow me to remove them. They are not a sub-colony of my own after all and may feel no need to respond to my chakra," Shibi spoke up, however remorsefully though calm and direct through the mask he had put on to keep the area sterile. The incision would be a pointless attempt on Shikamaru's life if there was nothing he could do and the chakra required would need to be as delicately preformed as it had been previously - too much would kill him.

"Then we'll try mine."


	7. Chapter 7

Kiba wasn't sure what he expected when he looked back to Shino's face once again, though some part of him expected the crying. If Shino hadn't been at least doing something more than staring off into space like he was, Kiba feared he would have lost it right there. Even so, the more he attempted to forget about Shino saying no, the more it began to crawl up his spine like Akamaru's fleas when he had them years ago. At first it was just the tickling feeling of annoyance but the more he flexed his hands from clenched to unclenched, relaxed to fist, the more he started getting agitated. His frown at the floor was intense and he kept making casual glances off to the side as if keeping Shino out of his vision would help him to calm down, but it didn't.

He could pick up the scent of tears and hear Shino trying to keep his breathing even and if he were a little closer he may have been able to pick up on the other's quickened heartbeat. His slit eyes turned back to the floor again as he once more flexed his hands. Relaxed to fist, relaxed to fist. He felt his muscles start to tighten and tense like they did on a mission. When the impatience was wearing thin on him and he was watching so eagerly for the 'get 'em Kiba!' signal that when Kurenai changed the plans last minute Kiba still charged off. The bomb that he knew to reside behind his eyelids was counting down and, in knowing it was there, all he could do was count down with it.

"He's right." He wasn't surprised that he had said the words more just surprised at how calmly he managed them and even that didn't catch him off guard. Shino was more surprised about it than he was, turning his shade covered eyes towards his friend after nearly twenty minutes of silence between them. Kiba didn't return the look but he knew Shino probably didn't notice his fidgeting only because he was so distracted with the other things on his mind. Unsurprising, unsurprising.

"What?" The question echoed his sentiment with a voice genuine in being lost. A mental claw scratched a tally mark for Shino's strike one behind his eyelids when Kiba blinked.

"He's right, about Shikamaru just needing you around even if you can't do anything. You usually think things through better than that," Kiba said, vision gradually descending towards red with that first strike mark. When he first met Shino, even if the guy annoyed him, Kiba never did anything - yes his family fought along side dogs but both the dogs and their masters were still respectable. The benefit did, though, come later when both he and Shino had silently and mutually settled upon the status of best friend. He got away with more now, and rare situations like this approached where he got to use it as Shino normally appeared calm and collected; which could annoy him at times, but was no reason to hit someone.

"I know," Shino said in a voice that seemed soft with the distance from his recluse state to the actual conversation; Kiba's ears throbbed with the frown on his voice. Strike two.

Although Shino sounded pained and Kiba could pick up more than one sign towards that conclusion, he still continued to count strikes. The seconds left on that bomb in his brain were now slowing and curving around the time of Shino's responses. His hands flexed - relaxed to fist. He didn't say anything; he backed off in a maneuver he used to be daring Shino. It had been used on him so many times; if you leave silence for a long time the dog _will _bark. Insect or bug or human, Kiba could still predict Shino better than most people could. Strike three was on the tip of his tongue and Kiba was waiting for it as still as possible, a natural movement to avoid startling.

"But this isn't like a mission and he isn't in a position where I can save him. It isn't like you or Hinata getting into a spot where I can go in and get you out. This is different _he's _different. I-"

Strike three, kaboom, Kiba's eyes were now enveloped in red and he could tell, like any decent hunter, that the greatest satisfaction came in not knowing what startled your prey first. Neither he nor Shino seemed to know what made him lose his sentence, Kiba standing up so abruptly…or Kiba punching him across the face with enough force to make the feet of the chair screech as it slid just a few inches away.

The familiar and faint tingle of pain in his fist began to channel Kiba's excess adrenaline away from diving after Shino and beating him as though he were the most offensive enemy on the planet. Shino, although prone to paranoia, did not lash out with his bugs and both of them knew that it was because Kiba was most likely in the right. He would _never _hit Shino if he had a hint of doubt that he was wrong.

"_That's _your great excuse for this? That this isn't a mission? That he's _different_?" Kiba snarled, gaining the attention of anyone else who hadn't already been shocked by the previous show of force. His black eyes were focused intently on Shino who had lost his hood and now his black, bottle cap glasses had slipped from one ear with the force of the hit. His hands were gripped on the arms of the chair beyond their normal alabaster coloring. He could feel the throbbing in his jaw from the strike and where he would be bruising but his face would not turn back to the Inuzuka, "Well good job, nice to know you're half as intelligent as you come off! Want to see if you can bring it the rest of the way _home?_"

Shino remained silent and waited with his face turned away from Kiba only looking back when he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. As his face turned towards the rampaging canine ninja he was grabbed by the front of his shirt and hefted from his seat. The scene must have been surprisingly strange because Shino was taller than Kiba yet Kiba was clearly the one who was a danger. The already painfully tense atmosphere of the room tightened even more, Kiba's breathing had somehow become uneven and heavy. He wasn't sure if that was from his previous patience or because the air in the room had suddenly gotten thin but either way, he knew he was breathing hard. Shino couldn't bring himself to hit back or try to free himself.

"Shikamaru _is _different, but not because this isn't a mission or because you can't save him. He's different because he's on a level with you that Hinata and I can't touch and the fact that you might _not _be able to save him is too scary for you to face," Kiba sneered in the elder's face. Shino didn't visibly flinch but Kiba could make out the sting in the aura surrounding him. The Aburame reached up to remove his crooked glasses from his face and fixed his friend with a traditional blank stare. Biting back the urge to hit him again, Kiba simply tightened his grip a little more on his friend's jacket and continued in a low growl, "You know your dad is right about this and that Shikamaru needs you but the fact that it isn't black and white enough to make a clean cut decision is hard and this is one situation where your feelings are getting in the way of you judgment. On a mission you lose a comrade and a friend but here you're losing your boyfriend and the best thing you have."

He watched closely for reactions and, though minor, he could feel Shino's hands grasp for the hems on the sleeves of his green jacket for something to hold onto. Despite his vacant look in meeting Kiba's eyes, the Inuzuka Chuunin knew Shino better than that and that his words were getting through better than the punch. Some people, like Naruto or Kiba himself, didn't get things as good as they might have if they were hit or someone tried to beat it into them. Shino wasn't one of those people but sometimes it wouldn't really start to get through unless you got his attention, well Kiba had managed it.

"If you _know_ that, then why are you patronizing me?" Shino asked back, his voice even despite the ring of pained spite at the end. Kiba was, more than anything, thankful for a response of some form that didn't involve simply a blink of those brown eyes.

"Because you're being a moron and I _know _you're better than that," he replied after a breath. He released Shino's jacket without an additional shove and stepped back, fisting his hands once more at his sides where they shook slightly with the anxiety coursing through his veins. His head and ears were pounding but it wasn't with anger so much as his own worry.

Shikamaru wasn't just Shino's lover or boyfriend; he was a friend to a lot of them. The two went after Sasuke together with the others, he remembered the first time he had put his life in that guy's hands. The first time he had trusted Shikamaru with his, Akamaru's, and everyone else's safety too was a terrifying experience and some of them almost didn't make it out alive but they had and they had him to thank. So now, his best friend was standing here, with the power to make or break the Nara's life in his hands and he was chickening out? Kiba refused to believe that, "Are you telling me that you'd rather sit out here and convince yourself that you couldn't do anything for him so if he doesn't make it you'll feel less guilty - than do everything you could to try and help? I already know how you're feeling about his diagnosis, how much you're blaming yourself, and now your passing up the chance to help where it might be needed."

He didn't call Shino pathetic or a coward, at least not outright despite how much his childish side was screaming at him to do such a thing. He knew that if someone that close to him was in there, facing this, he would be afraid too. But something about swallowing his pride and fear and doing everything he could to preserve their life seemed a hell of a lot better to him than whimpering in the corner like a puppy. Couldn't Shino see that as well as he could? Wasn't he supposed to be the 'smart one' in Team Eight? That couldn't have changed over this time; he refused to believe it.

Shino remained silent for a while then and the silence stretched on between them and across the people in the room like a sickening fog. He gripped the ends of his sleeves tightly, once more attempting to dig his short nails into his hands from what Kiba could see. But the Inuzuka didn't look away or glance to anyone else in the room despite how their eyes flitted between the two teenagers. His black eyes remained on the one right in front of him, trying to feel the weight Shino must be feeling, fighting to realize how hard the decision must have been. Either he wasn't near approaching that dangerous magnitude or Shino was just an idiot for not seeing the right answer in front of him, "I might just make it worse, if my control is off…if one insect flinches the wrong way Kiba…yes, they're my sub-colony but compared to what my father might be able to do. If someone whose strength and synchronizing ability near doubles my own can't save him…"

Kiba moved his hand up to Shino's shoulder and held on slightly in a movement that was as much meant to steady him as it was meant for comfort. Shino raised repeatedly clearing and misting eyes up from their focus on the ground. Kiba couldn't help the puppy like grin on his face in one of those rare occasions where he got to feel just a little bit more like the big kid compared to Shino, "What's that saying? 'I'm a member of the Hidden Leaf village's Aburame Clan when we fight, no matter how puny our opponent is, we don't mock them, we face them with full strength'?"

Shino, had he been anyone else, may have offered a nervous chuckle at that in addition to raising his arm up to get another swipe at his burning eyes. However he simply shook his head and wiped away the tears threatening at the edges of them and placed his glasses back on his nose, pushing them up with his finger stylishly. Kiba offered another squeeze on his shoulder and watched as Shino shrugged off his green outer coat and tossed it over the back of his chair. The fear and nervousness was still there, the want to brush off his comment and curl back into himself as he had been before being punched - but Kiba could sense the change. Blaming himself or not, this had everything to do with Shino and the choice was his to face it or not - but Kiba would be damned if he allowed his friend to back into that suicidal and solitaire corner like a coward, without a fight.

"Then we'll try mine."

Multiple pairs of eyes turned towards the door to face the silent and tall figure of Aburame Shino standing free of holding onto his sleeves and unshaken. He still wore his glasses but the aura of crying and fear was over shadowed and masked by his jittering determination and nervousness. Shibi pulled back his hand to keep his chakra from raising or lowering too rapidly and joined Tsunade in a meager smile at the arrival of his son. The blond raised her hands to rest them on her hips, fixing Shino with a stern glare, "Well move fast, your father can fill you in while we work on the incision."

Shino gave a swift and obedient nod before crossing the room to his father, being briefed formally and quickly on the situation and the sudden increase in risk he had just walked in on. The younger Aburame could feel his heart pounding up in his throat and he was faintly aware of the shaking in his hands returning but he fisted them quickly to halt it. He was passed a mask and a pair of gloves to prevent infection with he put on swiftly as his father continued to explain.

"If you throw off your chakra even slightly then they will move and it will put him in even greater danger. Build from the bottom, it's like getting comfortable with your own colony over again," Shibi told him. The situation was all too easily recognized by Shino, who had to build up the bond and usage of his colony at least three times in his life.

A stomach-turning curiosity caused him to glance over to the table before it was necessary and bile raised up in his throat, immediately turning him around. Behind him, a few nurses exchanged nervous glances between each other but Tsunade and Shibi both rested their eyes on him. Shino pressed his sleeve over his mouth and swallowed back the disgusting taste - blaming it on the shock of the sight and refusing to think of the open body before him as Shikamaru. If he did then he was very sure that he would throw up and that…just seemed like an entirely disgusting and unreasonable thing to think about at the moment. He turned back around and finished his trek to the table, raising his hand up over the heart that already had several more hands hovering above it.

Tsunade's eyes flicked between everyone for a moment before she crossed her arms, Shibi moving to stand back at her side and out of the way, "Now."

Even in his mental state Shikamaru felt his body jolt and something swell to his mouth though he wasn't sure if that was vomit or, worse, blood. Weather or not it happened to him physically stressed him slightly but he couldn't feel any rapid changing in his little bubble so he decided not to worry about it too much for the moment. He was finding that worrying was making him that much more nervous about what was happening and, even though he trusted the doctors, he found himself more wishing for company. It was a ridiculous and strange thing to want seeing as, most of the time, he preferred to be on his own anyway.

"Always want what you can't have," he mumbled to the blankness of his mind, lying back with his arms folded behind his head.

The pain in his chest had ceased a little while ago which made him believe it was not so much a broken heart as it was a real physical problem of some form. That, of course, only meant that his body was in serious danger and he was that much closer to dying out there. At the thought of dying his mind began to wander and he started thinking about if he would be trapped here for the rest of his after life if he were to die and what people would do, think, or say involving it. Then he began to wonder about writing a message and trying to find his ear to shove it out of. Of course, he felt particularly small in size right now so there was no knowing if anyone would be able to find it or even see it if he did manage. He wasn't sure what he would write in it, but he was sure he would mention to Shino that death was boring and killing himself would be stupid because he'd just, well, be bored for the rest of his afterlife.

Then again, it could have been possible that this boring fate was simply reserved for him as someone had gravely misinterpreted his wants out of life and, rather than giving him a lazy and enjoyable death, they were giving him a boring, black, void instead. Not many people seemed to understand the way that his mind worked about such things but he had assumed at least his subconscious might have been able to get it right. However…well, he hadn't thought about death much, just that he wanted to die quietly and maybe that was it. Perhaps the way he was dying was too flashy so until things settled down his death would be a black void-bubble thing. By the end of this train of thoughts he realized that, somewhere along the line of behind trapped in this terrible orb, he had lost his mind.

He closed his eyes and began to think bout other things in an attempt to let his mind wander and tried to imagine what he would do if he didn't die. He decided that he would definitely be taking it easy for a few weeks if not a few months and he would like nothing more than to stay at home and curl up next to Shino in bed for that entire time. This entire ordeal had made him realize how utterly little time he spend simply curling up with Shino. It wasn't as though they hadn't done it at all, it was just that the times they had done it were greatly outweighed by the amount of times they hadn't. He remembered once when he was sitting in the park playing Asuma at shogi and Shino came over to sit down beside him. As the game showed no sign of ending any time soon, he took to just leaning against him. The Aburame ended up falling asleep, as he had just returned from a mission, but even after Asuma left Shikamaru sat there with his arm around the other and watched the sun sink low…just relaxing.

Separation from Shino never really upset him because it always seemed as though nothing that bad would happen. Both of them knew how dangerous their lives were, that every time they stepped beyond that village gate there was a chance they would never come back; but the realistic nature of that never seemed vivid until now. Shikamaru had faced death before but that was before he had Shino, before he had memories involving falling asleep in someone's arms or having a shogi game interrupted by a kiss from a returning lover. It was before he knew what it was like to wake up buried in someone's chest and submerged in their scent. Long before the feeling of having something to hide from the sun in besides his pillow or blanket, before spending a Saturday morning waking and dozing until being poked in the side and starting the day with loving kiss and warm embrace. He had faced death before, but it was before Shino and before his relationship.

Now that he had those things - a comfortable pillow to sleep on with a breathing and heartbeat pattern to even more easily lull him to sleep and a person to interrupt his shogi games with a kiss - he wasn't rushing to let them go. His missions mattered more, he worked more to assure his own life than he could ever remember and finding Shino was always one of the top priorities on his list. The thought of death wasn't leaving behind a troublesome world or his friends or his family, the latter of the choices meant a lot to him, yes, but Shino was by far something different. He had become an entirely new experience and now…what? Now he was dying and losing that, all of that.

Shikamaru wasn't aware he was crying until he felt a tear slid out of the corner of his closed eye and down along his temple. He opened his eyes partially and more tears leaked out and back across his face though it remained mostly blank and calm as he looked up into the nothingness stretching ahead of him. He couldn't see Shino here and the mind inside his mind was only giving him a blurry image. He couldn't hear him or touch him. He couldn't find any sense of comfort in _anything _being trapped here, and his ache echoed throughout his void. The Nara pushed himself up and sat with one leg bent up and the other stretched, moving his hands up to his face to wipe at the tears though they refused to stop. He felt his shoulders shake and his heart once more clenched in his chest; though the pain was different now.

The last time he could recall crying so much was when everyone from his first mission as a Chuunin had been reported alive and on the way to recovery, except those were tears of relief. These were only pain and fear and nothing here offered any comfort in that. There were so few times he cried throughout his life and one of them was now turning out to be in his head, in his own mind, where he was suppose to be safe. Nothing about the black walls around him was safe, nothing was comforting, and nothing was welcoming. There was no softness, there were no clouds, there was no voice trying to wake him up softly and there would be no annoying poke in the side to make him squirm to consciousness. His dozing wasn't really dozing and his memories were blurred. What was here? Nothing was here.

A stream of wind shifted throughout his all too familiar void and Shikamaru could faintly feel it rustle the hair in his ponytail. It tickled and caressed the back of his neck and he more furiously rubbed at his eyes with one hand to try and dry away the tears that he couldn't prevent from leaking. The breeze was refreshing but out of place and yet familiar as well. It rustled against his back and warmed him but cooled him at the same time; he felt fill him with the need to breath deeply and slowly. It soothed the ache in his chest and halted the burning in his eyes; he felt a light sense of relief in an overwhelming amount of doubt. Part of him wanted to pull his hand away but the rest of him knew better, if he looked now the clouds he felt surrounding him would disappear.

Though, no amount of waiting could make one able to hold wind in their hand like a blanket or a weapon and soon the refreshing breeze stopped. Before the emptiness could set back in though, Shikamaru lowered his hand back towards his lap and continued sitting in his hunched position. He could feel his face crack with tears and the muscles tight in a formation of crying but the actual liquid was beginning to stop running down his skin. For a moment, time seemed to halt all together; the wind still brushing his hair forward and the last of his tears running from his eyes, his clothes settling back to an eerily still formation around his body. It was in that time frozen moment that he felt it - a soft and familiar fabric surrounding his waist in a warm and familiar hold.

Shikamaru's head lifted but nothing was in front of him, his eyes partially widened with the last of his tears being given free reign to drift over his cheeks. A body pressed against his sitting form lightly and, if he were to glance down, he may have noticed the pair of resting legs on the 'ground' around his form as well. The arms kept him leaning back and still against a mold he had memorized without even realizing; a breath he knew without words was along the nape of his neck.

"_Be safe_."

The words he was unwittingly aware of being unsaid days ago drifted across his skin like sunlight in the morning. His frozen face relaxed as that momentary embrace began to retract back into his surrounding nothingness, like a single cloud offering a second of shade over a scorching sun. Shikamaru's lips formed into a gentle smile across the face of his inclined head. Eyes closed, he moved a hand to grasp, gently, the warm light holding his cheek like the lover that was not with him, letting it slip between his fingers despite how reluctant he was to let it go. As it pulled away completely, leaving him in that blackness again, but with a thin string of warmth laced between his fingers, he replied in a whisper, "I can wait, just don't take forever."

-----

**Author's Note:** Originally chapter seven was suppose to wrap up Shikamaru's surgery so you would all see his gruesome fate but while I was working on the opening scene I sort of got lost in that and it ran long. Internet reading for ridiculously long chapters has always been a pain for me and I didn't want others to suffer that so I've pushed the grand finale one chapter later. Don't hate me?

I promise it will be in the next one though, I hope this chapter doesn't come off as a drag. I sort of got swept up in the scene with Shikamaru thinking as well as the opening one so, yeah, it seemed nice to me and I hope you enjoy reading. A few other things to note-

**- Would you be interested in a sequel if I could pull it together?  
- If I continued to write for this pair would you prefer to see more drama or some softer stuff for a while?**

I love opinions on things like this guys, because I like to be read. No, my writing style won't change and no, I won't take ideas offered to me necessarily, and no I won't do something just to be liked. There's also a chance I'll try a sequel even if no one has interest - just for the fun of it! But please feel free to offer me some feed back. 

I also might start writing a **Kankuro x Kiba** fanfiction, do any of you ShinoShika shippers out there think you would read that as well?

One last thing - I tried editing this chapter to clean it up a little. Did anyone notice? Was it better or worse than my mostly raw writing?


	8. Chapter 8

Seconds dragged on for ages that no one dared to try and count; the attempt would come off too agonizing and, as the reason why it was they were counting echoed through their minds, it would only make them seem longer. The light outside the window began to dwindle as much as the hope inside its waiting room had. Friends and families of both boys waited, in some form, for a final result that could give them some relief from what happened. There was no knowing if the relief would be good or it would be bad but knowing _something _was better than knowing _nothing _at all. Everyone knew it, yet at the same time no one at all seemed to know it.

The blonde head of Ino Yamanaka had slumped forward against her knees that were pulled against her chest in the chair. For a while it was unclear weather or not she had fallen asleep but the shaking of her shoulders with tears and worry had vanished to leave behind a slow breathing form. Beside her, Akimichi Chouji had taken to drawing on a pad of paper he'd found in his designated 'food pack'. All the bags of chips had vanished and been replaced by crumpled and brightly colored bags stuffed inside. Butterflies and clouds danced over the white paper, the pen dying in his hand as he had to scratch over his lines again and again to keep them visible.

Shikamaru's father had been called away into the operating room to help with medication to keep Shikamaru's wounds from reopening. Over the hours Shino had been gone, his body was dancing that line as narrow as the sharpened edge of a kunai knife and a few wounds that would take time to heal had opened again. Too much charka flow would kill him and the risk was avoided more easily with the Nara's medicinal remedies for wounds – his only regret was leaving his wife sitting in the waiting room alone. She had fallen asleep, however, with her head tilted against Chouji's shoulder. No one could say the look was peaceful; the entire day spent in the hospital worrying was the only reason she could go as far to rest her eyes.

Asuma was near but not inside the building, going through packs of cigarettes a tad too quickly and only hesitating when Kurenai – who had come to wait with him – mentioned something or walked over to catch his hand before he could take the pack. His smoking was never that much of a bother to her, but the nicotine would not help Shikamaru. He laughed without amusement and remarked that smoking never helped anyone and Shikamaru always complained about the smoke being 'troublesome' and drying out his eyes. His entire team did, in fact – and it was only after that did he managed to take a place beside her leaning against the hospital wall.

Both Naruto and Sakura had arrived as well, getting their information from Kiba who seemed to be the most relaxed out of everyone here. He had been flipping through a magazine when Naruto ran through the front doors and asked what had happened with the Nara. Kiba did his best to explain but Naruto's expression had already slipped to thought and regret. Sakura seemed like she wanted to cry but she was too strong for that and remarked that Shikamaru would definitely make it through. Naruto agreed and the two took up another pair of seats in the party of waiting bodies in the bleak room.

The hospital was nearly vacant outside the large party waiting for news on Shikamaru and Shino as well. Nurses gave considerate looks in their direction, offering coffee and hot chocolate nearly every hour as though they thought it would help. Though some accepted the favors early on, it was clear no warmth in any liquid would make it through their bodies and eventually the accepting stopped and people stayed quiet or sleeping. Eyes flicked to the clock; people stirred and fell back asleep; Asuma and Kurenai returned and left and returned again.

The silence was only broken when the first sound of footsteps echoed down the hall that so many had disappeared down over the day. The chain reaction spread through the room quickly and silently like a potentially deadly force. Kiba was the first to hear it, lifting his head to look towards the hall then towards Naruto and Sakura who had both given him nods. Naruto looked to Chouji who was stirring Shikamaru's mom gently. As she woke up she stirred Ino who lifted her head with a daze that quickly disappeared and her eyes quickly tore to Asuma who gave a nod. By the time the foot steps had made it to the end of the hallway; everyone was looking with intense eyes.

Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha Village, stood with her arms at her sides and looking over the awaiting crowd. She had accepted her place as Hokage in front of more people but the weight of these looks was a much heavier feeling on her heart. Eyes of friends and teachers and a parent who were not waiting to hear her say she accepted her place but waiting to hear the condition of someone they loved. Whose life had been taken into and through several pairs of hands – many of which were now bloodied and tired. These people were not waiting for or expecting news of joy or welcoming, they didn't look positive and she could see the hopefulness spark and flicker faintly and ready to be put out at any moment once she opened her mouth.

Breathes were held and fingers crossed. Shikamaru's mother looked like she was going to cry or pass out, which ever happened to come first. She had thought that the pressure in the operating room was bad but stepping in here seemed much worse. The solemn atmosphere was nearly suffocating as she took her breath to give the announcement that would make or break so many eyes. It would tear through all of them faster than the chain reaction of hearing foot steps; it would destroy or build their hopes.

"There is no easy way to explain this," she began, brown eyes searching over all of theirs, "but I'm sure that none of you were expecting it to be easy. We pulled together everything that we had for Shikamaru despite the fact that there is no cure for Parasitic Host. He was in surgery for nearly nine and a half hours now; at least, the sun should probably be coming up in a few if that clock is right. The damage to his internal organs was extensive…so the next day or two is critical."

Naruto, Kiba, Ino, Chouji, and Sakura all jumped to their feet to exclaim the same thing, "_He's still alive_?"

Tsunade blinked at their responses but smiled softly and inclined her head thoughtfully, nodding once and looking back to Shikamaru's mother. She still looked like she was going to cry but the tired look had been swept from her face like a cloud being pushed in a passing breeze, "He's alive."

Shino had refused to be moved from Shikamaru's side even after he was placed in a recovery room for his critical state. Both Tsunade and his father tried to persuade him away but he said unless it was dire to Shikamaru's health that he be moved he simply wouldn't. He still wore the surgical mask around his neck but his hands had been bare of the gloves for forty five minutes now. He held Shikamaru's all too frail seeming hand in his own, gently rolling his fingers over the bone and muscle under the battle-worn skin. He moved the fingers carefully, guiding them so they laced with his own and he held loosely as though even the blood going to Shikamaru's fingertips was vital.

Of the entire group sitting beyond the room, only Shikamaru's parents had been permitted to see him besides Shino. He wasn't sure at all how he even had been allowed to stay but the only time he rose was when Yoshino came in crying. He hugged her and comforted her, allowing her to take Shikamaru's hand from his own as it was only right. The Nara teenager slept in his usual deep way that seemed more peaceful than a lot of things Shino had seen in his life. Disturbances to the scene came in the forms of wires and the oxygen mask covering his mouth, bringing to life his frailty. He had been told to accept that Shikamaru may not make it through the night but that, if he did, it was more likely that he would make a full recovery in a matter of months.

He sat by his unconscious boyfriend's form for hours, massaging his hand and holding it up to his lips for minutes at a time. Speaking seemed like a pointless gesture but he mouthed words against the soft skin, breathing warm breaths over the skin that seemed a little too cold for his liking. His gestures were soft and slow, ringing with his usual thought out pace. He had managed to stop shaking after a while, his brown eyes scanning over the wrapped up and supposedly mended form of the Nara boy brought a mix of comfort and horrible guilt. To know that it was his fault it had happened in the first place but to know it was he who had saved Shikamaru as well left him confused and he found himself wishing for that guidance that he was usually offered in such times.

Night gave away to morning and light crept through the room slowly so his uncovered brown eyes could adjust. He once more leaned with his forehead against the back of Shikamaru's hand, his other hand resting so his fingers could brush against the soft brown hair that was, in a rare display, down and laying about the other's shoulders. The monitors continued to give steady and slow signals of his life but Shino was, for the life of him, unable to tell if Shikamaru's life was returning or only draining farther away. Nurses came in to check on Shikamaru and him as well, though many simply questioned if he was awake or needed anything. Food, drink, and sleep had been the last things on his mind even though he could feel the tired weight in his body. He wanted to sleep but if he tried he wouldn't be able to; he wanted to be here and awake when Shikamaru opened his eyes…or when he never did.

"You should go for a walk," Tsunade remarked midday of the second day after Shikamaru's intense surgery. Shino blinked emotionlessly and slow at the unmoving form of his lover before lifting his eyes up to the blonde. Her own brown eyes were stern but kind, urging him to do anything that would require movement; though he could tell she thought sleep would be preferable. Paranoia began to creep, however pointlessly, up his spine at the twentieth suggestion from someone that he go for a walk or get some food or rest.

He looked back to Shikamaru without reply and continued brushing his fingers over the other's wrist gently. He was already considered a mute by many people and had gotten away without replying many times. He hoped that this time would be no different than the last but he felt her hand on his shoulder and she offered a slight squeeze to the Chuunin, "Shino, if he wakes up I have no doubt you'll be the first one here besides a nurse. Go for a walk, get something to eat or some tea and come back. He'll be here."

Hesitating for a moment, looking over Shikamaru's face, the Aburame stood and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. He gave a gentle squeeze to the other's hand, "You say that like I _want _him to be here."

Correcting herself coming off as an entirely useless notion, Tsunade watched as the defeated Chuunin left the room. Her eyes softened in that way they only could when watching someone's retreating form. Shino had been the most beaten person she had been unlucky enough to see in some time, nearly since Sasuke defected. The look in his eyes rivaled Naruto's brief laps into depression over losing his best friend as he had. Though perhaps, with circumstances calculated, it was just as bad for Shikamaru was just as close to Shino as Sasuke had been to Naruto – even if the labels for the pairs were different.

She sighed heavily and returned to marking down vital signs and checking the condition of his healing.

The Aburame returned a few hours later from his apartment; a shower, light rest, meal, and some herbal tea under his belt – he was ready for at least three more restless nights. As he got into the hospital he began the trek back towards Shikamaru's room only to find nurses looming outside it. Panic flooded his system as the possible complications arose to mind. Had something gone wrong when he left? Did he miss some insects that got to Shikamaru's wounds or did some of his injures reopen again? The numerous issues jumped into his mind faster than he could break into a run.

As he pushed past nurses to get into the room he saw Tsunade standing near Shikamaru's bed, clipboard in hand. She stood partially turned towards the bed with her clipboard still balanced against her abdomen in the middle of writing another report on his condition. Shino's eyes slipped from her to the bed as he approached it with a fast pace that bordered on a run. He reached out to take Shikamaru's weak hand in his own as his other hand brushed the bangs from those closed eyes. His brow was furrowed as though he was having a nightmare, was it pains?

"Shikamaru what is it? What's wrong?" he asked quietly, his voice once more shaking instantly as he came up with even more possibilities. After all of this his body was more than ready to jump into a panicking mode; he couldn't make it through another episode. The idea of another attack, more going wrong with the already dying body of his lover was too agonizing to think about. Tears that had, for whatever reason, been absent previously started to sting his eyes.

The Nara groaned softly, holding onto Shino's hand with a pathetic sense of determination as he rolled his head towards one side then the other. His freed hair was slightly messed up as it ground against the pillow and his free hand clenched on the sheets softly. The machine's displayed a usual heartbeat rhythm but that meant little to anyone now. All eyes were focused on the Chuunin on the bed, even Tsunade who had no explanation for the phenomena. Without realizing it, warm tears slipped down Shino's cheeks at the sight; this was it, Shikamaru was going to die. The other held his hand as tightly as it seemed he could with being so weak, groaning and shifting in the bed.

Then, rather suddenly, he ceased his movement. His hand remained tightly clenched on Shino's but his body stopped moving. Breathing was quickened and his heartbeat fluttered as though all the previous action had finally caught up with him. Gradually it began to slow down once again but anyone that listened to the machine surely took it as a gradual decrease until it would eventually stop all movement. Shino had taken a half seat on the side of the bed and held Shikamaru's hand in his lap lightly, holding back though feeling if he held too tight he would simply break it in half. He watched the other's face relax and calm down once again to that sleeping state.

"He wouldn't go into a coma would he?" Shino asked after a few more minutes of silence and lifting his eyes up to Tsunade. The blonde looked back at him and shook her head but the answer was not a 'no' so much as unknowing herself. The Aburame's eyes moved back down towards the sleeping face whose brows had once more furrowed; however this time the result was much more relieving.

Shikamaru's eyes opened quickly and surprisingly before settling back down to half mast and squinting in the light leaking through his window. The alluring cat-like green was dull and tired but still there and still awake. His grip on Shino's hand loosened though he didn't let go and he tilted his head away from the light towards the Aburame who sat on his bed. His mind was groggy and he never really did care for being woken up really but some how he found this to be a decent exception to that rule. Rather than getting upset or snapping about the light he just closed his eyes and let out a rush of air, "How troublesome."

-------

**Author's Note: GAAAAH!**

I hate this chapter. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I don't know why but I just do. It seriously drags and it's evil and I don't like it but I think it's because I want to get to the epilogue. The epilogue should, if done properly, lead into a potential sequel that I'm going to take a nice long break before writing.

But yeah, so, this is pretty much your last chapter aside from the Epilogue which isn't really suppose to be much of a chapter itself. Either way, I hope it doesn't leave off at too much of a drag. I seriously feel like I disappoint with this one and may go back to completely re-write it some time if it gets to me enough.

Special mentions and stuff in the Epilogue if I remember it; don't give up on this story quite yet!


	9. Epilogue

Clouds drifted throughout a bright blue sky over the Village Hidden in Leaves even as the estate of the prominent Aburame Clan was hidden back among the beautiful trees. They had settled here long ago when an abundance of new insects were seen to migrate here years ago. Though those same insects had long since been discovered and examined beyond the enlightening point the clan continued to live there. Much of the estate was one large house with several court yards and length hallways and arcs weaving about like an elaborate hive. Other smaller houses littered the owned ground but much of the family lived here; aside from those who chose to live in the apartment residential area to determine if they could make it on their own. The requirement was far from necessary but some did prefer it that way aside.

Aburame Shino, seventeen years of age, sat on the edge of a porch that extended around the perimeter of a beautiful court yard that housed numerous developments of insects. His foot bounced up and down as he held a child's form seated in his lap. The brown hair was still short and thin but coming in to show the typical color amongst the clan. Her eyes glinted with a hazel color that tilted towards a nice shade of brown as she giggled furiously at the bouncing, waving her arms and screaming playfully as he pretended to drop her off to one side though really holding her at all times. The little girl couldn't have been more than a year or so old but insects gathered and fluttered about to examine the new addition to the family they had grown so accustomed to.

After a few more minutes of the playful bouncing he wrapped his arms around the little girl protectively and held her back into his sun warmed black shirt. Her giggled continued for a few more minutes before she settled back into the teenager's chest and clasped the material of his sleeves with tight hands. As she calmed down, Shino swept her up in his arms as one would normally hold a baby and cradled her carefully. His own sunglasses were on top of his head and his face remained stoic until a little hand reached up to grab at his nose and lips. Only a truly heartless person would have been able to fight off the smile as he stood up and stepped back up onto the wooden platform. She seemed content with his smile and smiled widely at him again as he headed back inside the estate.

Windows were open to allow multiple streams of sunlight in and wind rustled the open dark curtains. The room was mostly bare save for the low table and pillows arranged around it as well as some lights and plants. Unlike the ones outside, these plants were mostly insect free – the day was too good for them to want to linger inside for too long. A baby's cradle also sat in the room directly across from the door Shino walked in through but he didn't move to put her down quite yet. He hefted her up again and twirled her in a slow circle to earn a few more giggles. She grasped at his nose again and he lowered her down to touch his lips to her forehead. He cradled her once again in his arms as he paced around the room, allowing her to hold onto one of his fingers and take his glasses from the top of his head.

The fascination began to fade away to yawns and the yawns to closed eyes as she started to drift off to sleep clutching his glasses. He let her hold onto them as he heard someone sliding off their shoes and stepping up into the room from behind him. Turning around he was faced with the image of Nara Shikamaru, who stood with his hands in his pockets in the doorway, "Bonding time?"

"It never hurts," Shino replied smoothly. Shikamaru raised a brow but simply shook his head in reply and crossed the room, holding out his arms. Shino passed the baby to the other gently and eased his glasses from her grip. She frowned in her sleep and stirred at the movement but didn't wake up and merely curled into the new warm material of Shikamaru's black shirt. The cat eyed Chuunin looked over her with an unusual softness in his eyes as he cradled her just as gently as Shino had been. It wasn't as though neither of them had held a child before.

"She's cute," he said simply, balancing her carefully in his arms. Shino was pulling on his over coat again and making his way from across the room back towards his boyfriend and lover. He nodded without reply as he took the baby back and the sliding door behind him opened up.

A woman entered, her curling brown hair secured back in a pony-tail and glasses similar to Shino's (though more oval shaped by far) resting on top of her head. He dress was similar to that of a Jounin though she carried a small gourd on her hip and her under clothes were black compared to blue and her vest had been traded up for a high collared waist-length jacket. She was breathing a little hard, as though she had run to the room though neither boy had heard her, and immediately crossed the room to them.

"She sleeping?" she asked softly, peering over Shino's arms at the baby. He nodded again and she carefully eased the child away from him. Shikamaru had made his way back to the door leading to the court yard and swayed his weight lightly with his hands in his pockets. Shino's arms fell to his side, flexing and relaxing after the child was not longer there to occupy his hold. The room was quiet for a moment before the woman brought her eyes up to Shino, "Thanks Shino. I hate asking you to watch her for me but-"

He shook his head, "You're a shinobi and a mother, and you do what you can."

She seemed a little off guard by what he had said but let out a breath and nodded a little, crossing the room to put the child back in her cradle again. Shino turned to cross the room back towards his boyfriend once more, being within arms distance when she turned around to look at the two of them again. Shikamaru wasn't wearing his Chuunin vest but his black turtleneck was in place along with a pair of black pants, making it seem entirely like one outfit where it was not. Shino's usual outfit only lacked his head band now, as he set his glasses back into place over his eyes, "What are you two up for today?"

Shikamaru offered a shrug in reply, "Lunch mostly," he stole a glance towards Shino. "A chat."

The Aburame seemed still without being tense to the point it seemed he was nervous or should have been worried. The woman glanced towards her nephew and then Shikamaru once again, her hand still in the crib and stroking her child's head. Shino brought his face towards her but his eyes weren't intended to meet hers even through the darkened glass. She looked from him to Shikamaru again before nodding, offering a bit of a smile. It seemed rather nervous, "Alright then, have fun."

Fifteen minutes later, the two teenagers were sitting at a restaurant on the main street of Konoha and waiting for their food to arrive. It took a while for them to agree on a place – mostly because Shikamaru had come to read Shino's strange form of body language and was avoiding grudges with the teen – but they had finally settled on a curry stand that didn't bear anything too spicy. Shikamaru drank water from a mug identical to the one that held Shino's tea and neither of them had spoken much since deciding on where to eat. Shino had taken to grasping the mug in his hands and running his fingers along it in that pattern like way.

"'Chat'?" he questioned after a moment. It had been months since the incident with Shikamaru being in the hospital and he had fully recovered by now. His first real mission was happening towards the end of the week and he was determined to see it through by now. Shino, however, could hold a guilty conscious nearly as long as he could hold a grudge and had increasingly been trying to do things that would make him feel like he had apologized enough. Shikamaru had told him unceasingly that he didn't have to, it was pointless, that he was a live and that was all that mattered but something about the entire thing wouldn't allow Shino to allow _himself _to get away with it quite so easily.

He was wondering if this chat was a mention of Shikamaru being sick of him and if he had wanted that to happen to be the final spite against himself for what he had done.

"I've been thinking since that last session with your uncle," Shikamaru opened. Shino's grip increased slightly on the cup but Shikamaru seemed entirely calm. It was likely that he was very aware of what Shino had been thinking this entire time but was enjoying all too much the fun of not letting him have a final conclusion until he fully elaborated.

Concerning Shino's uncle, they had started seeing him since Shikamaru had recovered; almost like a form of genetic counseling. With Shino carrying a race of evil little Shikamaru eating insects inside of him and sex being their main way of being transmitted it seemed as though the two would never be able to have a sexual relationship. On the surface that wouldn't seem like much of a problem, after all it wasn't a sexual desire for one another that made Shikamaru fear dying or Shino pull back into his own mind as a form of protection against his guilt. However they were still _teenagers _and that did entitle some desires and if that couldn't be fulfilled…well…Shikamaru didn't consider it grounds for abandoning Shino but they both still understood there would have been some awkwardness.

Shino's uncle had delved into some methods that may have been helpful but the conventional method of condoms was unlikely to work and there was still always the risk that they would break. So rather, after Shikamaru had recovered and was able to take care of himself on his own Shino had gone in for his own surgery. His uncle had made complete sense of the colony and sub-colony's workings and the chance of Shino's own colony revolting for the removal of the parasites was 15. If they did revolt it was likely the same thing would happen that gave Shino his tunnel-like scars again. The bugs needed to be removed and the eggs they left behind killed so that all that was left was his original, un-parasitic, controlled colony.

The surgery had been a success without any rebellion from his original colony and Shino recovered a short while later. He and Shikamaru, however, had done nothing to take advantage of the situation they had been hoping for over several months of Shikamaru's recovery. They both had celebrated a birthday and were seventeen together but nothing had changed majorly – or at all. If anything they had become increasingly distant. For a while they continued to see Shino's uncle but the last meeting had been the last; assuming nothing should go wrong with the colony. So after all of this was it likely that Shikamaru would leave him? If he planned on it the timing seemed awfully stupid to both of them.

"We aren't getting anywhere the way that we are and things are only getting more frustrating and awkward," Shikamaru continued through their plates of food being set in front of them. He lowered his cup from his lips and set it back on the table again as he picked up the chopsticks and broke them apart to begin pushing his food around and allowing it to cool. Despite having the rather good scented food in front of him, Shino could only feel his stomach churning painfully, "I think it'd be easier on both of us if we did something about it. I've been trying to figure out something around my work but with Chuunin exams coming up again I'm only coming to one conclusion."

Shino mimicked Shikamaru's movement of pushing around his food but the other had started eating; only further leaving him questioning. It was like yet unlike Shikamaru at the same time and that was something he hated and loved about the other. Sometimes the suspense was interesting but sometimes it drove him insane; as the other continued to eat he was well aware that he wasn't going to get anything out of him until they were both finished and leaving. His stomach knotted tighter and fought with the rest of his body as he attempted to eat around his uncomfortable settings.

Shikamaru, however, was completely calm and ate with his usual politeness. He knew what he was going to say exactly and thus he felt no reason to be insecure. It was quite understandable that he would be alright with what he planned to say. Even if he was planning, right now, on how to break up with Shino, he would have had quite some time to decide on it and make himself fine. It was usually the one getting dumped that it hurt the most because they couldn't see it coming. That wasn't to say the dump-er wouldn't have any regrets but at least they had more time to _face _them.

The two ate quietly and the day was dwindling down to a warm sunset beyond the gates of the village as they stood up and moved to leave. Shikamaru started in the direction of Shino's apartment though neither of them seemed to know if that was really where they intended on going. Where they would normally hold hands they didn't and both seemed occupied with something else in their surroundings. Though their trains of thought were entirely different they both seemed content in avoiding the subject of whatever it was. For one it wasn't nearly as bad as was with the other. Shino sighed after a moment before initiating conversation this time, "What were you thinking?"

Shikamaru looked at him with a puzzled expression before his face softened back and he looked forward again. Shrugging he dug his hands a little deeper into his pockets before allowing them to relax, "Well with the way things are going I was just thinking it'd be better if we-"

_Broke up_, Shino thought. He wasn't sure if he was heartbroken or expecting the blow. His own racing mind nearly erased what Shikamaru's answer had been exactly.

"-moved in together."

Shino was never one for uselessly rambling so unsurprisingly he hadn't started talking; freaking out wasn't his style either so even his own brain's interpretation of what was happening didn't reach his mouth. After he had caught, exactly, what it was Shikamaru had said he paused in his step to lift his head from its slightly inclined angle to look at his boyfriend. Shikamaru kept walking for a moment before pausing to turn around himself and raised a brow. He watched as the other blinked behind his glasses and shook his head a little as though attempting to clear his thoughts, "Pardon me?"

He turned around, "I think it'd be better if we moved in together."

So he _hadn't _lost his mind. Shikamaru continued, "We'll be able to spend more time together around missions and me working the exams. Plus, with you parasite-free it might be easier to get into stuff."

The level of confidence and maturity both of them used with each other was astounding but Shino found himself still a tad confused. Shikamaru already stayed over his apartment any night he was too tired or didn't feel like returning. Unless of course he had missions the next morning or was worried about that cat that lived with him. But he was still always welcome, wasn't that like living with him already? Then again, Shikamaru had seen it from the point that his clothes and his cat and his general property always remained at his own apartment on nights when having it at Shino's would have worked better. He wouldn't have to 'grab stuff from home before a mission' anymore; Shino's place would _be _his home.

After all, the Aburame's place was bigger than his own for whatever reason; most likely because he saved his money a little better than Shikamaru who also had to lend it to his friends. He found himself unable to say no when they begged where Shino probably had no problem turning down Kiba most of the time. He had the perfect amount of space for both of them; it worked out only too perfectly. Shino's confusion did sort of make him think it may have been a bad idea however. He was sort of _springing _it on his lover. Maybe he wasn't ready for it. Maybe-

"I'd like that," Shino replied, catching up to him after a moment. He placed his hands on Shikamaru's hips as he closed the small space between them and smiled an invisible smile behind his high collar. Instantly Shikamaru's hands left his pockets and rested on the other's shoulders, lifting his eyes up the inch or so he had to in order to meet the smooth plastic of those dark shades. He blinked and mimicked the small smile himself.

"Good, you didn't really have much of a choice," he replied. Shino raised his own brow but opted a kiss over a reply. It felt like ages since he had last felt the Aburame's lips on his own; the soft press of that silky skin over his own. The warmth of having him take a slight step forward and slip his arms that much more around his waist to pull him that much closer. His body shuddered subtly as the cooling air was fended off by the warmth of the other's body and he felt Shino's lips press that much more against his before pulling back.

"I'm sure I didn't," he said, tilting his forehead against the brunette's. Shikamaru smiled a smirk that was slyer than his previous one had been and slipped his arms around his boyfriend's torso. The sun sank lower behind them and submerged the village in a comfortable glow and he stole Shino's lips with his own again. A squeeze edged him the last bit closer and he ran his hand down and up the other's back once as that buzz spread from his brain through his fingertips and down to his toes. He was never much of a 'toe-curler' but something about having a much desired contact after so long was enough to make him 'pop' his foot – as Ino put it.

No one paid much attention to the teenagers as they walked by, except for a few who mumbled and murmured about the public display. A few girls giggled as they walked by and Shikamaru broke the kiss with a smile before resting his cheek against the other's sternum. The familiar weight of Shino's head atop his own was more comforting than anything had been over the few months, nearly a year, now. He pulled his hands back to slide them under the other's coat for a further sense of warmth but also so he could move his fingers under the black material of his shirt. Shino tensed surprisingly under the sudden feel of hand against skin but Shikamaru knew that he was getting a much missed look behind those dark glasses.

The familiar fuzz of passion and love guided the boys back to Shino's apartment and as Shino questioned if he wanted to return home Shikamaru finally answered as he had wanted to for some time; "_Troublesome, this _is _home."_

--

**Author's Note: **Epilogue done and completed! This should give a decent taste into the sequel should I ever decide to jump in on that after a much-needed break. Not that I haven't loved working on Trump Card, I definitely have, but every author needs a break! I wasn't expecting this to go everywhere from its cliff-hanging one-shot first chapter.

Is it just me or are quotes the most _amazing_ things to end on? They just seem to sum up everything so perfectly! 

Well I hope you all liked it up to the Epilogue and I have a few, however short, special mentions to people that have been following me since chapter one and supporting me to no end.

Herbal Osaka-neechan Alexys, and llyoung especially: Thanks a bunch for watching after this story as it went and supporting the pairing and me. I appreciate it a ton and I only hope you guys will stick around for my other stories and I don't disappoint you with them. Your input was helpful and I hope you know how much it helped when I needed it. Thanks again. 3


End file.
